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[b]Information[/b]
A near-disastrous mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993. On this date nearly 100 U.S. Army Rangers, commanded by Capt. Mike Steele, were dropped by helicopter deep into the capital city of Mogadishu to capture two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord. This lead to a large and drawn-out firefight between the Rangers and hundreds of Somali gunmen, leading to the destruction of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters. This film focuses on the heroic efforts of various Rangers to get to the downed black hawks, centering on Sgt. Eversmann, leading the Ranger unit Chalk Four to the first black hawk crash site, Warrant Officer Durant who was captured after being the only survivor of the second black hawk crash, as well as many others who were involved
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[b]Overview
SPOILER ALERT[/b]
[b][sp]In a raid, a task force of Delta Force soldiers, Army Rangers, and Special Operations Aviation Regiment attempt capturing two of Mohammed Farah Aidid's senior subordinates in the Bakaara Market neighborhood of Mogadishu. The mission is led by Maj Gen William Garrison, and was supposed to take no more than 1 hour. The extraction by the Delta team is successful, but the Somali militia, armed with RPGs, shoot down two Black Hawk helicopters, and the resulting rescue extends the mission to over 22 hours. There were in total 123 American soldiers sent into Mogadishu.
The film follows many characters through build-up, the assault and rescue. It shows how Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann was placed in charge of Ranger Chalk Four, before portraying the raid and successful extraction of the wanted persons, and shows the first injury, as PFC Todd Blackburn falls from a helicopter as it maneuvers to avoid an RPG. This is the beginning of the indication that the troops are overwhelmed by the volume of enemy militia, and builds up to the two helicopter crashes: Super Six-One piloted by Cliff "Elvis" Wolcott, and Super Six-Four piloted by Mike Durant. Durant is taken prisoner after the two Delta snipers who requested to be inserted near the crash site of Super Six-Four are killed while defending him.
The film also follows two Chalk Four machine gunners who are supposed to return with the extraction team, but miss the humvees as they leave, and get lost. One of them is deafened by machine-gun fire, but they eventually make their way back to Eversmann. Cpl Jamie Smith attempts to rescue one of them, whose ammo bag was shot and exploded, but Smith gets shot too, and eventually bleeds to death.
The film begins to reach its conclusion as the U.S. forces regain control with strafing runs by Little Bird helicopters, and a convoy of troops from the 10th Mountain Division, along with other United Nations forces, arrives to extract the wounded. Back at the base, Norman "Hoot" Hooten begins to restock on ammunition, preparing to go back out on the next mission, and Eversmann tells a dead Jamie Smith that he will fulfill his dying wish.[/sp][/b]
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[b]Cast[/b]
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
Tom Guiry ... Yurek (as Thomas Guiry)
Charlie Hofheimer ... Smith
Danny Hoch ... Pilla
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[b]Reviews[/b]
Black Hawk is quite simply the best movie of the year (2001) and the best war movie I have seen. It's an astonishing achievement that puts you right in the middle of the hellish horror faced by U.S. soldiers in Somalia in 1993. Every explosion startled me and filled me fear, every gunshot felt like it was whizzing right by me, every mistake or unforeseen event had me on the edge of my seat with stress and anger. I felt as though I had been transported to Mogadishu for 2.5 hours and plopped in the middle of the ambush faced by the 100 or so U.S. Rangers and Delta Force Troops as they set about to capture a Somalian warlord responsible for stealing Red Cross food shipments in his starvation-ravaged country. I really felt this movie, it was tangible to me; the confusion, the fear, the sense of dislocation and horror the soldiers must have faced. At the end I was emotionally and mentally drained.
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Amazing movie
This movie made me cry. I know, call me a pussy.
I had to read the book last year for English 101. I like it better than the movie.
This is one of the best war movies I've ever seen, I've watched it so many times. The fact that it's a true story makes the movie even better.
[QUOTE=Zambies!;25757593]This movie made me cry. I know, call me a pussy.[/QUOTE]
I always want to tear up when [sp]Mike Durham gets captured. Especially the way he holds onto the picture of his wife even as the savages are trying to kill him[/sp]
Great film, but I still felt like it was a little over the top sometimes. That's probably to blame on Jerry Bruckheimer being lead producer though.
U.S Propaganda; but a solidly marvelous gritty, visceral war movie none the less. One of my personal favorites.
Excellent movie. Saw it in the theater when it first came out... amazing experience, especially the strafing scenes.
there was a book about some army dudes who got in trouble on a mountain in afghanistan but i cant remember what it's called... anyways it was way more intense than this move.
[QUOTE=lordskelzor;25757812]there was a book about some army dudes who got in trouble on a mountain in afghanistan but i cant remember what it's called... anyways it was way more intense than this move.[/QUOTE]
Lone survivor
I remember watching it when I was 8 or 9.
Felt bad man
[QUOTE=Zambies!;25757823]Lone survivor[/QUOTE]
No. Lone Survivor is a US Navy SEAL account.
The one he's talking about is about the US Army Ranger patrol that was ambushed in the mountains of A-stan by a considerably larger force.
[editline]31st October 2010[/editline]
Hmm no you could be right, I might be getting two different stories mixed up.
this move is fucking amazing
[QUOTE=Handsome;25757704]U.S Propaganda; but a solidly marvelous gritty, visceral war movie none the less. One of my personal favorites.[/QUOTE]
Propaganda? It actually happened.
[QUOTE=Zambies!;25757593]This movie made me cry. I know, call me a pussy.[/QUOTE]
You are a pussy.
I felt hatred and for the somalis when they started beating [SP]Durham. I felt really bad for him there.[/SP]
Amazing movie.
this is one of the best movies I have ever seen. absolutely love it.
Eh, was ok. A bit too long in my opinion, really generic, and overall meh.
How could it be generic? It was based on a true story. Unless you consider real battles to be generic.
Of course if you meant by camera work, effects, etc. then that makes a bit more sense, but I still like it. It was one of the first movies I saw with such realistic visuals and the effects for 2001 were amazing. That, accompanied by good pacing and a score by Hans Zimmer made it one of my favorite movies.
What I find interesting though is that the a lot of the script that explained why the Somalis were so aggressive towards the US were cut out so it turned out to be a movie just about soldiers and fighting. But I'm not sure how well that would have melded into the film. Its theatrical release was about 2 and a half hours long already, adding all of that in well would have probably bumped it to three hours.
[QUOTE=Handsome;25757704]U.S Propaganda; but a solidly marvelous gritty, visceral war movie none the less. One of my personal favorites.[/QUOTE]
Director and most of the actors aren't American.
EDIT Well not most of the actors but alot of them.
I loved this movie.
Haha, show this to a Christian family, watch them explode at all the cursing.
