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  Matt
  
Willis
Black Hawk Down
USA, 2001
[Ridley Scott]
Josh Hartnett, Ewen McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Sam Shepard, Eric Bana
Action / Drama
  
Yeah, I know what you're thinking, this is another high mark from a man not known for his generosity in handing them out. Hell, I gave a cartoon five stars a couple of days ago. I don't know what to say, maybe I just got lucky because Black Hawk Down is superb, clearly not in the way The Emperors New Groove was, but in a way I've not seen since the likes of Zulu: a true war action film, not devoid of human emotion or character development, but not short on action either. I was told to expect two hours of intense onscreen action but I never expected anything like this. I can't really explain it, it wasn't quite cartoon-like with rows of people being mowed down by some beefcake, nor was it the kind of agonized, slow motion, clever-clever violence you might see in the likes of The Matrix.

It seemed real, to me it was real. People got shot and they fell down, sometimes you saw them later, sometimes you didn't. Some died heroic deaths, others fell over (in fact the actors fell over a lot) and scrabbled on; it was literally the most intense representation of war I have ever seen. That it happened in a real conflict, one which I and most of the audience can at least vaguely remember and relate to, made it all seem so much closer.
Saving Private Ryan was a great film, but it was of a war fought nearly 60 years ago, in which most of the combatants are now dead and their memories with them. Everything was different then and it's hard to see how it affects you, no matter how brilliant it is. With Black Hawk Down everything you see on the screen you see now, from the uniforms, the weapons, even the Hum-vees. It could just as easily be of now.

Essentially the plot is of one of America's most disastrous military operations, one in which 19 soldiers and over a thousand Somali militia lost their lives. It was meant to be a simple drop in and grab; two lieutenants of a Somali warlord meeting together were to be surprised and taken prisoner. It was meant to take 30 minutes. What actually happened was that the US heliborne force was surprised, ambushed and repeatedly hit as it attempted to rescue it's wounded and dead in the middle of hostile territory. As in every military action it produced tremendous savagery and violence, yet also astonishing bravery and self-sacrifice. The US forces, cut-off from support and surrounded by thousands and thousands of well-armed hostile locals, did everything they could to survive and bring home every member of their team: alive or dead.

The entire cast is superb, running the gamut of nationalities due to it's close-to-Europe filming location of North Africa, but the ones who truly stand out are Eric Bana (next to be seen in Ang Lee's
Hulk), Ewen McGregor, Josh Hartnett and the ever reliable William Fichtner and Jason Isaacs. Given that there are another 15 people I could name on top of that you have not only a distinguished supporting cast but one which truly delivers the goods; heroic but not arrogant, amusing but not light-hearted, and with the constant fear of the viewer that anyone could be next on the chopping board. Director Ridley Scott is on familiar ground here, his ability to build tension into a movie and keep the whole thing moving along nicely is second to none and his pedigree of late is superb (Gladiator, Hannibal). Visually it's stunning, the helicopter precision fly-by's being just one of many excellent touches and it's sound effects are equally as impressive, recalling the telling resonance of Apocalypse Now for instance with it's use of ordinary items and their sounds contrasting with the helicopters, gunshots and so on.

I would not recommend this film to anyone who is the remotest bit squeamish or who is unused to such long periods of combat in a film. I would also not recomment it to anyone looking for an action film, the violence here is not to make you go 'wow, cool'. It's frank, it's bloody and it's horrifying. It is not Arnold Schwarzeneggar in
Commando. For everyone else though, and especially those of you wanting to see a truly great film which will not seem like two hours of you life has been taken away, you cannot go far wrong with Black Hawk Down.
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