2001 Directed by Ridley Scott
When U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team attempt to kidnap two underlings of a Somali warlord, their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, and the Americans suffer heavy casualties, facing intense fighting from the militia on the ground.
Josh Hartnett Ewan McGregor Eric Bana Jason Isaacs William Fichtner Tom Sizemore Ewen Bremner Sam Shepard Orlando Bloom Tom Hardy Charlie Hofheimer Hugh Dancy Tom Guiry Brian Van Holt Steven Ford Ron Eldard Gregory Sporleder Zeljko Ivanek Matthew Marsden Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Johnny Strong Kim Coates Jeremy Piven Enrique Murciano Glenn Morshower Brendan Sexton III Carmine Giovinazzo George Harris Razaaq Adoti Show All…
Jerry Bruckheimer Mike Stenson Chad Oman Ridley Scott Branko Lustig Simon West Charles Newirth Lucio Trentini Angela Quiles
Elli Griff Roberta Federico Monica Sallustio Mark Allett Antonio Murer Mustapha Haouas Lahcen Elyazidi
Anna MacKenzie Dino Dimuro Christopher Assells Per Hallberg Perry Robertson Michael Minkler Karen Baker Landers Andrea Eliseyan Gregory Hainer Michael A. Reagan Peter Staubli Myron Nettinga Chris Hogan Bruce Tanis Dan Hegeman Chris Jargo
Pad crnog jastreba, Падение черного ястреба, Mavro geraki: I katarripsi, La caída del halcón negro, Chernyy yastreb, Padinnia chornoho yastruba, Blek Khouk, Helikopter w Ogniu
"Only the dead have seen the end of war."
(Plato)
ADRENALINE PUMPING WAR WHICH RENOUNCES EVERYTHING UNNECESSARY, TO TELL A PURE BLOODBOILING STORY THROUGH THE GREAT VISUALIZATION
Scott described the film as ‘anti-war, but pro-military’ and that is certainly true. There’s no single star-lead protagonist, but a team of individual heroes. There’s no sentimental bullshit; showing the families back home or close-ups of American flags fluttering in the wind. Instead Scott bravely removes these genre clichés and replaces them with the gritty reality of war.
Typically of Scott there’s an incredible attention to detail, with even something as small as a hot shell casing burning a soldier’s skin reflecting the terrors of war. The film is, in every aspect, beautiful in its creation. From the diversified camera angles of Sławomir Idziak’s breathtaking cinematography and the exemplary slow-motion sequences of Pietro Scalia’s edit to the sound team’s elaborate design and Hans Zimmer’s stunning score, Black Hawk Down is a gloriously immersive piece of cinema, a joy to watch and ultimately a masterpiece of its genre.
This really isn't my cup of tea so I'll be brief. The movie is incredibly tense and visceral, although it doesn't quite reach the level of something like Saving Private Ryan. It is also mostly on the right side of its politics with regards to war in general and the Battle of Mogadishu specifically (this half is a bit fuzzier). But for me there's just way too much of this:
Shot: people shooting guns
Reverse-shot: bullets ricocheting off of stuff
Shot: people shooting guns
Reverse-shot: people falling over
Shot: people shooting guns
Reverse-shot: stuff exploding
I don't mean to disparage the film or its fans, I just prefer a different style of action movie.
Scott's fetish for and power over this material is staggering; structurally it's his ZODIAC, for good or ill, buffered by Idziak's incredibly tactile transmissions of hot metal and black smoke. furthermore it plays today like an accidentally prescient microcosm of blowback from the 12 years of American hegemonic intervention that's come since (and reflects our complicated response to same). the first act repeatedly questions both our and the soldiers' relationship to the violence they're about to inflict before necessarily tossing that "out the window" for a purely subjective survival narrative. in order to protect themselves and their fellows, the soldiers can simply no longer allow themselves to consider the political ramifications of this event or the earthshaking loss of life…
Action!: The Scott Brothers – How To Get Screwed By Spielberg Twice W/ Ridley Scott
The year 2000 was in many ways an era of experimentation for the then-acclaimed director. It's like he decided to try new things after winning his Oscar and had nothing more to prove.
His first attempt with Hannibal failed miserably, as we have already seen. For his next try the director, however, decides to read from the pages of an unexpected but at the same time more obvious source: his brother Tony.
I have joked on numerous occasions, if it turned out tomorrow that this movie was in fact directed by Tony Scott, I would not be surprised at all. The frantic style, the cinematography,…
Cinematic Time Capsule
2001 Marathon - Film #167
”Colonel, they’re shooting at us!”
“Well, shoot back!”
Mark Bowden’s book is easily one of the best accounts of warfare I’ve ever read. However, it was so detailed and layered that I couldn’t imagine how it would translate to film without being completely watered down.
Ridley Scott tackles that challenge head-on and creates an incredibly intense experience that captures the chaos, confusion and horror of a mission gone wrong.
Watching it today I was struck by how much gravity the real locations and practical effects bring to the film, which is something that’s completely lacking in modern day war films with their over-reliance on CGI.
"We have stirred up a hornet’s nest here."
From a production perspective, this film is incredible, every shot, the color, the casting, the cigar smoking, everything is top-notch. As for the event itself, if the Somali combatants had just paused and aimed a little, they would have had it over with in half an hour.
Thanks a lot joaquin zanzio for this awesome recommendation.
Rotten Tomatoes - 76% certified fresh
IMDb - 7.7 Metacritic - 74
* First all I should say that I can't judge this movie from a political perspective. If I was to do that, I would have to think about why some African countries are so poor, why they have civil wars, warlords and so on. If I take that into consideration and judge the perspective of this movie, I can't give anything more than 0/5. So I am not going to do that. I watch movies to escape life and that includes shitty politics of our world. Because of that I am only judging this movie as an action thriller.…
Observing the abject futility of war, Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down" is a dour contemporary epic that embraces the acts of heriosm and violence that undergird military conflict. On a visual canvas of blood, sweat, smoke, and sand, Scott's film unfolds as those acts cancel one another out, creating an unceasing whirlpool of death and loss. Not shying away from the tribal and personal costs of conflict, "Black Hawk Down" results in a searing experience.
Unfolding in Somalia, 1993, "Black Hawk Down" focuses on a group of Rangers thrown into action when a U.S. gunship is shot down. Facing intense fighting from groundforces, the American soldiers work to both survive and save their comrades.
The narrative is not necessarily concerned…
In 1993, American troops in Mogadhisu capture two high-ranking advisors of warlord Mohamed Aidid. Their attempt to exfiltrate them from the city is met what surprisingly stiff resistance by local militia and results in a bloodbath for both sides.
There are very few movies out there that can match "Black Hawk Down" when it comes to visceral intensity and on-screen brutality. If you thought that "Saving Private Ryan" was too much for your sensibilities, stay as far away as you can from this picture. When the battle begins, there is just no let up until literally the last minute. This might not be a classic example of what we call an anti-war film, but it doesn't shy away from showing…
***A C.S. Walsky Reader’s Poll***
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A) In addition to being one of the most unrelenting and fervent depictions of combat ever put to film, Black Hawk Down also delivers the most realistic helicopter crash since Twilight Zone: The Movie.
B) Black Hawk Down features a helicopter crash so intense, violent, and realistic I assumed it was directed by John Landis.
C) In Black Hawk Down the Somali Milita used countless soldiers, automatic weapons, and RPG’s to take down US helicopters.
On the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie John Landis simply used bad judgment and cocaine.
D) They all suck and please shut the fuck up
Feel free to vote in the comments!
