THE MOVIE

Review by TIM M

Based on actual events, Black Hawk Down is the heroic account of a group of elite U.S. soldiers sent into Mogadishu, Somalia in October 1993 as part of a U.N. peacekeeping operation. Their mission: to abduct several top lieutenants of the Somali warlord, Mohamed Farah Aidid, as part of a strategy to quell the civil war and famine that is ravaging the country.

Young Rangers and veteran Delta Force soldiers must fight side by side against overwhelming odds. For 18 harrowing hours, they remain trapped and wounded in the most hostile district of Mogadishu until a rescue convoy can be mounted to retrieve them. Outnumbered and surrounded, tensions flare, friends are lost, alliances are formed and soldiers learn the true nature of war and heroism.

Eighteen U.S. soldiers and more than 500 Somalians were killed as a result of this conflict.

How many war movies does Hollywood want to make? Sure they provide great backgrounds for amazing stories, and are a way to honor fallen soldiers, but come on! It is not to disrespect the efforts of those in war, it’s just that every second movie out of Hollywood is a war movie. Saving Private Ryan regenerated the genre, and it was followed by The Thin Red Line, Pearl Harbour, Enemy At The Gates, Windtalkers, and this.

I had never heard of this situation before, but, not being American, it’s understandable. All I can say is, WOW. I was in the heat of battle in this flick.

Great action sequences, great acting, and nice direction make this one of the better war films of recent times. Though, ever since Spielberg started using a slower shutterspeed, all of the war films have the same looking action scenes.

I’ve got to give credit to Josh Hartnett, boy, you go from Halloween: H20 to Pearl Harbour, now this, this kid has come a long way and deserves it as well. Great job on his behalf. Lots of cameos from actors most of you probably don’t care about, but I do. (Kevin from It’s A Man’s World, and that lead guy from Whiteboys).

The music is a great touch from veteran Hans Zimmer, and adds a lot to the film.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The video on this DVD is very, very good and does a fantastic job of bringing to life the visual techniques employed in the film. The image is clear and with plenty of detail on offer, colors are good and blacks are solid.

Now, having said that, this film has been deliberately tampered with to create that ‘look’ which is becoming very common these days, particularly with war films. The screen is full of grain and blemishes to provide that combat cameraman effect, the image can also appear blurred and shakey. Colors are another kettle of fish, often being oversaturated, blown out, washed out, dark and murky. While these are all true of Black Hawk Down it never detracts from the viewing experience and, in fact, adds to it. This is a great video presentation of a very visual film.

Audio:

Oh yeah! This is the business. Big, loud and full of bravado this is one soundtrack that will impress your friends and infuriate your neighbors. Everything is big and in your face with explosions, helicopters and other effects constantly buffeting your ears.

Dialogue can be difficult to hear but I could imagine it being exactly the same if I was ever caught in a war zone. Syncing isn’t an issue, despite some ADR work. All of the speakers get called into play to not only bring across Hans Zimmer’s excellent score but to put you right in the thick of the action. This is one soundtrack that has to be experienced as it is very difficult to describe. Easily one of the finest examples I have come across in recent times.

THE EXTRAS

We have a few extras on this disc, but nothing of any real substance.

The main extra is an on the set featurette which runs for about 25 minutes. This covers your standard PR documentary territory with interviews with the cast and crew, advisors and appropriate amounts of behind the scenes and actual film footage.

We also have a few trailers and some biographies.

SUMMARY

Great movie, albeit a bit of a disappointing disc. Worth picking up if you can spare the change.