BLACK HAWK DOWN
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures

Date: 01/04/02
By: Gerry Wang

    I had to go out of my way to watch BLACK HAWK DOWN, all the way to Century City. And there wasn't any stadium seating, a luxury I've grown quite fond of. Anyway, Columbia Pictures decided to release this movie in Los Angeles and New York on December 28, 2001 just so it could qualify for the Oscars. People that don't live in LA or NY will have to wait all the way till January 18, 2002 to watch this movie. 

    Fuck that shit. If it's a big budget action flick, why not give it a wide release? I hate this lame tactic by the studios to build Oscar buzz. I think this will ultimately backfire, because BLACK HAWK DOWN, while the best war movie since SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, is NOT Oscar material. Just the fact that Columbia thought it'd be Oscar-worthy made me bump its grade down a notch to B+. I also think the mixed reviews BLACK HAWK DOWN has been receiving stems from this overhyping. Market it like BEHIND ENEMY LINES (as America-kicks-ass propoganda), and you're looking at a surefire action movie classic.

High school P.E. comes in handy.

    Folks, don't go into BLACK HAWK DOWN thinking you're gonna watch a potential Best Picture winner, because it ain't gonna win. You'll just be disappointed, much like the many critics bashing the movie. Go into BLACK HAWK DOWN expecting a high-caliber, Bruckheimer action movie, and you'll love it. I've never seen urban combat rendered so realistically. It was like taking "Halflife: Counterstrike" and "Operation Flashpoint," merging them together, and putting it onscreen.

    In fact, I really don't know how Ridley Scott, an action genius, managed to shoot BLACK HAWK DOWN. It seems like they rented the city of Mogadishu, Somalia and ripped it up w/ bullets and RPGs (rocket propelled grenades). The sets for this movie were that realistic. I don't even know if the Black Hawk choppers were real or CGI. Did they really buy two Black Hawks and crash them into the ground? I can't wait till the DVD comes out so I can watch a "Making of..." documentary on the logistical and technical aspects of making BLACK HAWK DOWN.

Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor.

    BLACK HAWK DOWN is a recounting of a real life event that happened in 1993, when US Army Rangers and Delta Force commandos were sent into Mogadishu to apprehend General Aidid, a warlord dictator who was inflicting famine on the Somali people by seizing and withholding food supplies. The UN, with US personnel playing the usual prominent role, was mounting a humanitarian campaign to feed the starving people and restore Somalia to an orderly government. Don't worry, the entire backstory and context is conveniently relayed to the audience through opening text that lasts about 2 minutes.

    The problem is, you forget everything you read because the movie lasts 2 hours and 40 minutes. BLACK HAWK DOWN never tries to tackle the moral ambiguities of the engagement in Somalia. It never asks you to re-examine US Foreign Policy, to ask whether it is too interventionist. Instead, this is a movie honoring our military forces, showing the camaraderie and courage of young men around my age (22) plunging into a hellish environment, where they can't shoot women and children, but women and children are willing to shoot at them. Catch-22, eh?

What do you do when you're outnumbered 20:1?

    The entire movie is basically one long action sequence, where commandos are deployed to do a prisoner roundup mission that shouldn't have taken more than 30 minutes. But what they didn't count on was an uprising by the militia, who are armed to the teeth and hundreds, maybe thousands, strong. All hell breaks loose, as Black Hawks are shot down, turning the mission objective into rescue and recovery. 

    You really get the sense that you're watching warfare confined within a city. Humvees armed w/ machine guns have to drive on the streets, and they need instructions from helicopters up above or they wouldn't know their way around. Buildings aren't just there to deflect bullets, but are used to secure a perimeter and for the commandos to hole up while treating the wounded. Somali militia take to the roofs because everyone knows an elevated position is most effective. The sky darkens and brightens according to the time of day, unlike The Lord of the Rings, where the sun can set in the matter of a single shot. The scale of the Mogadishu combat was absolutely astonishing.

Is there a more majestic sight than a fleet of choppers?

    And of course, the American commandos kicked ass, despite the long odds. It's a shame there really weren't any characters you could become fond of other than Josh Hartnett, whose character was developed the most. There is only limited character development at all, and the only way we come to identify with and root for the characters is the fact they're American. Also because we recognize these actors from other movies and thought they were badass. When Jason Isaacs (the evil Colonel Tavington from THE PATRIOT) came on, I was like, Hell yeah.

    There are a lot of recognizable faces amongst the soldiers, such as Ewan McGregor (using a sorry American accent), Tom Sizemore, Sam Shepard, Orlando Bloom (Legolas didn't get enough screen time), Eric Bana (The Incredible Hulk in the upcoming Ang Lee movie), and Jeremy Piven. It was just enough star power for you to care about whether they lived or died.

Bulletholes the size of Big Macs.

    Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said of the Somali hostiles. To me, BLACK HAWK DOWN was really one-sided in favor of the Americans. The Somalian militia were like bots that you blast away in a video game. Each bullet that mowed down a dirty Somali filled me w/ a bloodthirsty satisfaction. When the Little Bird chopper started strafing the rooftops and cutting hostiles in half, I actually smiled.

    When you smile during the violence in a war movie, then you know it fails its genre. BLACK HAWK DOWN is an action movie. That's all. Go read the book of the same title by Mark Bowden if you want any of the details surrounding the political, international context of the situation. You won't get much of the Somalian point of view, and but if you didn't give a fuck about that, like me, then you'll take great satisfaction in watching our boys blow away a bunch of dirty skinnies.

No one gets left behind, no matter how wounded.

    The tagline the BLACK HAWK DOWN one-sheet uses is "Leave No Man Behind," and this valiant credo is one of the most valiant attributes of the US Armed Forces and harrowingly portrayed in BLACK HAWK DOWN. No matter what the situation, if you're wounded, your comrades will come back and get you, sometimes even getting shot themselves. Even if you die, your fellow soldiers will risk life and limb to recover your body so your family can at least have some solace in knowing you received a proper military burial. The dedication of one serviceman to another is enough to make your eyes watery.

    Recently, I bumped into an old acquaintance of mine from high school. He went to West Point, and now he's a 2nd Lieutenant in some Armored Tanks division. The following weekend he was going to ship out for Korea to serve on active duty. I didn't have to ask him if he was scared or if he'd be homesick. Just by the look in his eyes, I could tell being stationed in a hostile environment was something he considered his duty, and he'd be dead before he'd be homesick. Bless the armed forces. The freedom they provide should never be taken for granted. 

Look at the set. Fuck me that's impressive.

Grade: B+
-- One huge set piece that grips you by the throat, but never really presents the Somalian side of the conflict.

Babe-o-meter: F
-- Not a single female in BLACK HAWK DOWN, unless you count the Somali women. Then again, who could tell Somali women and men apart?