Recently there was an article which really sparked my emotions, both sadness and anger, surprisingly it was in The Sun (the most professional and reliable of the daily papers) the article was on the sate of Somalia and the history of the wars going on in the country.

Quoted in the article was a film called Black Hawk Down, which I had heard of but never, had the opportunity to watch and had no clue about, later on when in discussion on the article, somebody brought the film up and highly recommended it.

Buying the Film

I bought the film in Blockbuster when I was returning a rental; it cost £4 which I thought was highly reasonable for a DVD, especially one which was recommended and according to the front of the DVD won two Oscars, and looked to carry an exciting cast set.

Director

The film is directed by a man called Ridley Scott who is the fantastic director and producer of names like Body of Lies, American Gangster, Hannibal, Gladiator and a string of many more successful films/

Cast

I noticed straight away that this film had the benefits of an all star cast and in many ways this cast was similar to that of Pearl Harbour. The cast mainly play soldiers so the names are hard to catch in the film, but I have found a cast listing for the purpose of my review.

• Josh Hartnett – Eversmann

• Ewan McGregor – Grimes

• Tom Sizemore – McKnight

• Eric Bana – Hoot

• William Fichtner – Sanderson

• Ewen Bremner – Nelson

• Sam Shepard – Garrison

• Gabriel Casseus – Kurth

• Kim Coates – Wex

• Hugh Dancy – Schmid

• Ron Eldard – Durant

• Ioan Gruffudd – Beales

• Jason Isaacs – Steele

• Zeljko Ivanek – Harrell

• Matthew Marsden – Sizemore

• Orlando Bloom – Blackburn

The cast is hundreds of men strong; however listing everyone would be boring to read!

It is surprising when watching a film like this how many characters are recognisable, even if it is from smaller roles; also it is nice to see such popular actors like Orlando Bloom taking smaller roles. At points this was distracting and I found myself coming away from the film for a few seconds to think, ‘where do I know you from?’
However, overall, I was totally impressed with the cast selection.

What’s it about?

The film is an action/drama and war movie, and according to some of the articles I have read on it; it is one of the most popular and well reviewed war movies of our time.

The film is based on real life events and shows US soldiers being dropped into Somalia, the events took place in real life in 1993 when the US had a military concern for Somalia and a mission called The Battle of The Black Sea took place.
19 US soldiers lost their lives in the battle and the films depicts the story of some of the characters involved in the real life mission, including those who died or had significant injuries and those who came through as heroes.

Structure

The film quickly runs into the point of which the US Army soldiers and Delta Force troops are taken by helicopter into the hostile territory in Somalia. This is a main benefit in the film, I was really impressed by the speed of which the story started developing and the action started.

I did find however, that because there was not a great build up to sending the Army troops out, it was hard at first to settle into the velocity of what was about to happen in the film, once the action scenes began however, the seriousness sank in and I found that I could finally settle into paying full attention.

This film is structured like most war movies, instead of having a beginning, middle and an end, the film has a beginning and then the rest of the film continues by following the characters in action. This can become tiresome, considering the movie is approximately 144 minutes long, I was expecting to either become quickly bored of fighting scenes or for the film to contain a more developed structure. However, I did not tire of the fighting scenes in this film and the scenes kept my interest throughout and until the end.

The disadvantage off this structure in films is that it is easy to phase in and out of full attention to the film and things can be lost, this only happened on one or two occasions for me, in which I simply went back a scene and watched it again.

Characters and Acting

The characters are easy to follow; it is surprising how easy it is to differentiate between 20 or 30 men all filthy and bleeding and all in the same uniform when you are genuinely enjoying a film.

I thought there was outstanding acting from the entire cast and with a cast so large every character made for an interesting storyline.
In Black Hawk Down the director doesn’t allocate a main character, events happen throughout the film which flick the limelight on different people at different points. This was done very successfully and I could relate to most of the cast even though the film doesn’t allow you to grow too attached.
I think the director was trying to get the audience to appreciate the cast on a whole instead of focusing on one or two and portraying them as heroes. The point of this would obviously be that in the real life event, there was not just one hero.

There are lots of similarities to the film Pearl Harbour, not only do they share a few cast members, but they also share a similar structure, whereby each character has its own purpose and does not fade into the background.

What many people find hard about war is to relate to the real emotions that happen and it is also hard to appreciate the true bravery of most of the soldiers involved. The film nearly nails this on the head thanks to the acting and I cannot fault this part in my review.

Audience Participation

I think a film is truly worth recommending if you have genuinely shouted something encouraging at your television whilst watching it. I did on a few occasions.
Some of the tension built up in the film made me fidget and there were points in which I wanted to grab a machine gun and jump into the film (not entirely healthy I’m sure)

I also found similar stories when I was discussing the film at work, a few people expressed the genuine rage they felt whilst watching, this is really creditable and I was satisfied that an action movie I would not normally have picked out inspired such enthusiasm.

Real Life?

As stated, the film is based on real life events and holds tribute to some of the US soldiers involved in the real life mission, however being an American film I am sure I do not need to explain that the film is slightly one sided.

I do not know enough about the Somali Militia for me to comment on whether the film was a fair representation on behalf of their country however I do know that Somalia has endless problems and it was nice to see a film depicting these as I know many people are ignorant to the subject completely.

I do not know enough to enlighten you but for me the film felt slightly one dimensional.

Although the film was most likely one sided in favour of the US, I do not see this as a disadvantage because I watched the movie for entertainment purposes and not for its educational values.

Action Content

The film was nonstop shooting and shouting and killing, so as you can imagine there was an extremely high action content, I do not know the true figures but I would estimate that out of 144 minutes of film, there is 120 minutes of action. For anyone who is not an action movie fan, this will not be fun.

Compared to other action movies I enjoyed this film considerably more. I was impressed that the action and bloodstain of the film was not affected by a pointless love story or the usual American Hero. The film was raw action and there was no room for any other genre.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Hans Zimmer who I understand is a popular choice for many directors when incorporating a soundtrack into their film.
I have never been one to notice a films soundtrack a great deal, unless it is a soppy love film. However, in Black Hawk Down I did pick up on the strength of the music included.

The soundtrack really supports the violence in most of the scenes with its speed and tension and it is totally compatible with all emotions at each point, the compositions are fast and tense at points, then can also mellow at the more emotional scenes.

I also noticed that the soundtrack keeps with the theme by remaining quite ethnic at most times and I think this is important as it keeps the audience reminded of where they are.

Special Effects

The special effects I think were spectacular, there was plenty of air action, shooting and graphic deaths, all of which I think were totally believable to the extent where the film could have almost been an undercover documentary.

There were plenty of helicopter scenes in the film some involving crashes these were also believable. The film was fairly dark most of the way through, I found that a lot of the time the camera was grey, although this did not affect me a great deal, and I could happily view it like this, the darkness probably improved the special effects by far covering up anything which could have possibly been reviewed as unrealistic.

The scenery throughout the film was consistent, I have never been to Somalia but I would image the scenery to have been depicted in this film pretty spot on. The film shows Somalia to be a country with beautiful beaches and a hot sun but set within vast desert and dirty third world markets and corrupt villages.

Who’s it for?

The film, although extremely interesting, educational and powerful is definitely not for the younger groups it is graphic and violent throughout and also contains lots of strong language.

I would say, in my opinion that you ware better equipped to watch the film if you have a slight knowledge off the background to Somalia or have a high interest in war films.

Anyone above the age of 18 is permitted to watch this film however, I would go as far to say it would be a great shame to even attempt to watch this if you are not willing to give your full attention, I would recommend it to mature film watchers and action movie buffs.

Benefits outside of the film

One of the main benefits I have found from watching the film is that it has really sparked the researcher in me, I have already started browsing the web for facts, stories and research on not just the mission in the film but also the present state of Somalia, it is always nice when something brings you back to learning.

I have also found that due to the popularity of the film I have had many people to discuss it with and debate with on the films subject. I think this is great as it extends the effect of the movie far from just whilst watching it.

I will definitely watch this film again, I got it all the first time round, but I do not think it is something that I will get bored of there are over two hours to repeat and I am happy to do this as I am sure each scene will be just as shocking the second time round.

Disadvantages

Although I cannot find many disadvantages with this film (I thoroughly enjoyed every minute) I am happy to outline those which I feel may affect some viewers.

The film is very lengthy, although the subject is fairly deep, there is not a great deal of in depth conversation which viewers will need to keep tuned into, so I can see how after the first hour some audiences may drift out of focus and lose some of the films effects.

I was also aware in the film the involvement of children and woman in the fighting, although I understand this to be true to life, I think that some viewers may have been caused offense or upset by this, I felt the film did not hold back.

Overall

Overall this is definitely something I recommend you not only watch, but also buy, it is not expensive to pick this film up online, and I found it worth every penny I spent and more.

It is also something which can be shared in viewing with friends and family, and will really stir up discussion once the credits start rolling.

This film involved me completely and I felt many emotions throughout including sadness, I even had a little chuckle at some of the bits which were light-hearted.

I honestly look forward to viewing it again.

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