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Josh Hartnett, Orlando Bloom, Ewan McGregor

123 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis.

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85% liked it

435,535 ratings

Critics

76% liked it

154 critics

R, 2 hrs. 24 min.

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Release Date: December 28, 2001

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DVD Release Date: June 11, 2002

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Flixster Reviews (23,169)

  • 76Majikat
    November 22, 2009
    76Majikat
    Well this was a tough 2 hours and 10 minutes for me, I won?t deny. I don?t have a great track record when it comes to war films, but despite my slight struggle?WOW?never seen a war film like it!

    The film grips you from the get go and seems like an almost seemless transition f...( read more)rom scene to scene, with much realistic bloodshed.

    Acted in a very natural way, I?m glad this didn?t received the over-emphasised Hollywood Action touch that many of this type of film has.

    This film definitely makes a big impact and certainly opens the eyes to the viewer in terms of what the job entails. If it can help my ignorance on the subject, I?m sure it can help many others too!
  • SirPant
    September 17, 2009
    SirPant
    A decent modern war film based on real events.
  • Chiefilms
    June 16, 2009
    Chiefilms
    Intense war movie, very realistic. Heralded as a good portrayal of what modern warfare is like, the atmosphere and chaos. Strong cast, Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana breaking on the scene. Most war movies with Tom Sizemore are good, he just walks around all the time while being f...( read more)ired at, I don't know if that is intentional. Ridley Scott is a solid, classic director.
  • AgentLexi2132
    November 23, 2008
    AgentLexi2132
    ''Do you think if you get General Aidid, we will simply put down our weapons and adopt American democracy? That the killing will stop? We know this. Without victory, there will be no peace. There will always be killing, see? This is how things are in our world.''

    A solid ...( read more)decent war film that follows the US siege of the Somalian city Mogadishu. Starts with us all getting acquainted with the marine characters and their routines.

    Josh Hartnett: Eversmann

    Two black Hawk choppers are put down. What transpires is alot of desperate marines trying frantically to secure and survive against impossible odds.

    Josh Harnett, Orlando Bloom, Ewan Mcgregor, Eric Bana, Jason Isaacs all do a magnificence job of their marine counterpart roles. Also a peek from Ioan Gruffudd.
    Some graphic scenes and bloody gore that are sickeningly realistic. Amazing battle scenes and tense heart-pounding music. Was quite savage in parts. Even some slapstick comedy lurking in here!
    For whatever reason, I don't remember hearing much about the civil war in Somalia or about the Battle of Mogadishu on which Black Hawk Down is based. The plan seemed simple enough: the Army is sent into Somalia by the government to try to put an end to the Civil War. On October 3, 1993, a group of them were sent on a quick mission to capture the Somali warlord that had been running the country with an iron fist. It didn't take long for the operation to go completely FUBAR as two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. Things went from bad to worse, as the Rangers found themselves surrounded by thousands of armed Somalis, whose only goal was to shoot any American soldier that invaded their space.

    ''It's what you do right now that makes a difference.''

    Without having to draw a breath, a well deserved cry has to be made for Ridley Scott, who has succeeded in making one hell of a war movie with Black Hawk Down. Unlike some war films that lace the battle with slower character-building sequences, you have to wait only thirty minutes for the Rangers' mission to go into motion. And the action doesn't stop for the duration o the film, as the rest of the movie is filled with flying stray bullets, explosions and bloodshed. The fighting is so chaotic that it is hard to follow the action and tell what is happening, at times, and it becomes almost too easy to become emotionless to the violence. By the third time someone yells RPG's! though, every viewer knows it's wise to duck and cover.

    While the American soldiers go in with a solid plan, it doesn't take long for panic to set in, and pretty soon, you're not sure which side is more disorganized. It's amazing to watch what seems like thousands of extras playing the Somali militia swarming over the soldiers, and the action and camerawork is reminiscent of a video game as the soldiers try to escape their precarious situation through the streets of Mogadishu. As the movie progresses, the tension continues to build as the grim and unrelenting hopelessness of the situation sets in both for the soldiers and the viewer.

    It's pretty amazing how much has been made of the 19 downed American soldiers when over 1000 Somali men, women, and children were killed during the raid. While the movie is clearly weighed towards the American perspective, I can't imagine how it must have felt to be the guy who gets to play "Dead Somali with a Gun #354".

    ''You Americans don't smoke anymore. You live long, dull and uninteresting lives.''

    Although characterization has always been used extensively in war movies to get the viewer to care about the characters, Black Hawk Down works better because it utilizes the soldiers, they are personified as little more than grunts in the field doing the bidding of their superiors. At least the soldiers had their names taped to their helmets, so that this didn't have the problem of some war movies, where it's sometimes hard to tell who is who. Some of the best performances of the film come from Tom Sizemore as the gung-ho Lt. McKnight and Josh Hartnett, who plays the sergeant who leads the mission and feels personal guilt every time a man is lost. Sam Shepard also is excellent as Major General William Garrison, who sits back in the safe zone watching his doomed men be overpowered by the enemy. Eric Bana's part is small, but he has some of the best lines in the film, really driving home the point of why soldiers do what they do. Ewan McGregor's role is even more minor and insignificant, but his Trainspotting compatriot, Ewen Bremner offers the movie's little bit of comic relief.

    As expected in a Ridley Scott film, the visuals and camera-work are stunning with the movie having a gray almost monochromatic look that makes the orange flames and red blood really stand out. As is typical in Scott's recent movies, there is lots of flying dust, rubble and debris mixed with slow motion shots of falling bullet casings and splattered blood. He also uses animals and non-military personnel well in some of the shots to show that this firefight is happening in the middle of a populated market district.

    Ridley Scott rightly deserved an Oscar nomination with Hawk . It`s his movie and he surpasses some aspects that Spielberg achieved with Saving Private Ryan. War is hell and this is a film of stark and haunting imagery of victims of famine , of mutilated soldiers and civilians . Both editing and cinematography are superb with many great scenes like the small stream of American soldiers walking up the street while on the other side of the houses a massive torrent of armed militiamen are walking in the same direction...
    By the end, while the troops are shown retrieving, you see an old man crossing the roads, holding a dead kid in his hands. There is no emotion to be seen in his face. You hear a music at the background. And with the single scene you are convinced about the brutality of a war. This single scene discloses the greatness of the cinema,reveals the talents of a film maker and greatness of an art form.

    Interesting Goofs


    Anachronisms: One of the soldiers is seen wearing a pair of Oakley "X-Metal Juliet" sunglasses. These glasses were not released until 2000.
    Audio/visual unsynchronized: While evacuating prisoners, McKnight's voice is very obviously overdubbed, as Sizemore's mouth appears to be saying something completely different from what is heard.
    Continuity: After Sgt. Busch crawls out of the first Black Hawk wreck, the goggles on his helmet disappear and reappear several times.
    Factual errors: The call to prayer in the beginning was called after the sun had risen. In Islam, there are no calls to prayer after sunrise until after noon.
    Errors in geography: When the soldiers are waiting for the mission to get underway they are discussing the details while shooting baskets, in the background there is a group of farm houses set in a green field.
    Crew or equipment visible: When Eversmann and his men are running back to the their base, he dodges some gun fire and squats behind an old car for cover. As he does so, his "mark" is visible on the road at the spot where he stops running and dodges behind the car.
    Miscellaneous: In the Spanish localized version, as in the German one, when Garrison and McKnight talk about Spectre gunships, the word "Gunship" is translated into the Spanish word "Helicóptero" which means helicopter.

    ''No one gets left behind, you know that.''
  • allan913
    October 7, 2008
    allan913
    A total knockout. A raw, kinetic and relentlessly exciting action-thriller. A powerful and exhilerating movie experiance. An excellent movie. A breathtaking masterpiece. Director, Ridley Scott put's you right in the battle. The cast is awsome, each and everyone of them bring some...( read more)thing great to the table. Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, William Fitchner, Jason Isaacs, Tom Sizemore and Ewan McGregor are outstanding. Non-stop spectacular action at every corner. Intense, amazing and remarkable. A deeply moving, electrifying, explosive, effective and satisfying military drama. One of the most engadging and and riveting film experiances I've ever had. Truly and utterly ungorgettable.
  • btfinest1
    November 22, 2009
    btfinest1
    had it got to get it back.
  • bronzlox1
    November 19, 2009
    bronzlox1
    I went to see this for free and really only because Josh Hartnett was in it.
  • neopol313
    November 19, 2009
    neopol313
    Black Hawk Down is to me, the number 1 best war film that I have seen. Intense and relentless, it conveys the horror and tactics of modern warfare, and more to point, like all great and classic war movies, demonstrates the dedication, skill and spirit that warfare can manifest wh...( read more)en all hell brakes loose, or the proverbial hits the fan. Well cast, directed, edited, with an effective Hans Zimmer score and some of the best sound design I've ever heard, the engrossing horror of the situation was conveyed brilliantly. But there's something that I find somewhat disturbing a lot this film, and it may well be a failure but it does demonstrate the effectiveness of the medium; The Somalians or the "Indigenous Personal" as they were so aptly referred to in the film, came across as heartless, rage filled amoral murderers, and while in many respects that may well be true, I found myself, and I doubt that I was alone, being filled with sense of glee every time one of these bastards was blown to pieces or filled with a hail of Uncle Sam's bullets! Also the scene where a child accidentally guns down his own father after a U.S. troop slips, is so very telling of the militia culture in that country at that time. Are we supposed to feel sorry for the Man? The Child? Or see it a poetic justice? Or just be relived that our "Peace Keeping" U.S. soldier got away with his life? In many ways, I think that the ambivalence if that scene, sums up what was so brilliant about this film. Whilst on one hand, it's hard to deny that we are supposed to feel for, respect and support our American hero's who will go to extreme lengths to "Leave No One Behind", we're are asked to look at why the Somalians have taken up arms? But in the end it's a huge sociological issue and this film does not dwell too much on that. It touches on the fact that there are always two sides to any conflict, but like "Zulu" forty years before it, it chose its side, and that was the normally powerful under dog, and we saw them survive what many of us would have struggled to do. This is truly a war film for war film fans, and a MUST SEE for everyone.
  • billiebop
    November 17, 2009
    billiebop
    I love ensemble movies and this one has a huge amount of talented British and American actors. Love those cropped army haircuts - very sexy!
  • mana77075
    November 15, 2009
    mana77075
    My all time favorite movie!!!!

View All Black Hawk Down Reviews

Critic Reviews

January 18, 2002
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Films like this are more useful than gung-ho capers like Behind Enemy Lines. They help audiences understand and sympathize with the actual experiences of combat troops, instead of trivializing them in... full review

January 17, 2002
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

The action is so rivetingly orchestrated, the crazed chaos of it so palpable, that the movie sucks you in. full review

January 17, 2002
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

This huge $90 million undertaking is a personal best for producer Jerry Bruckheimer, a triumph for Scott and a war film of prodigious power. full review

View more Black Hawk Down reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

  • R0L0D3X
    June 10, 2009
    R0L0D3X
    it was a good war film
  • Daughteroftwilight
    March 11, 2009
    Daughteroftwilight
    i like this movie tooooo much
  • mikefoot6
    August 2, 2008
    mikefoot6
    BEST FILM EVER I AM THE BIGGEST FAN OF THIS FILM!!!!
  • AndyK8577
    July 30, 2008
    AndyK8577
    this is a fantastic film , eny 1 hu dnt fink it is , then u must b a loser , yer enyways this film rocks
  • pavacri23
    April 27, 2008
    pavacri23
    just one of the best movies of war ever made so far. excellent movie. recommended a lot.
  • thereverendtholomewplague
    February 15, 2008
    thereverendtholomewplague
    This is one of the best war movies yet!
    So fucking vivid and realistic.
    It was great. I loved Sargent. Eversmann .
  • wmx7tx
    September 16, 2007
    wmx7tx
    Best war movie ever. Why??? Because their is no message. It doesn't try to make some big political statement about war. It just presents war as it is. Brutal, confusing, loud, and fast. Josh Hartnett stands out of the cast. He gives a very subtle and understated performance. The rest of the cast is decent even Orlando Bloom. Ewan McGregor is his usual annoying self.

    Despite his presence, Black Hawk Down is an instant classic.
  • Sle7en
    July 31, 2007
    Sle7en
    i love it when the guys finger gets shot off, ALL HAIL THE CARNAGE!
  • bluehawk2008
    July 26, 2007
    bluehawk2008
    Both Ewan Bremner AND Ewan McGregor are in this film.
  • wannabegoaly
    July 21, 2007
    wannabegoaly
    Has anyone read the book by Mark Bowden its a great book
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  • What 2 actors star together in Black Hawk Down and Troy   Answer »
  • Which Lord of the Rings actor had a small role in the movie "Black Hawk Down"?  Answer »
  • In which U.S Ranger movie did Ewan Mcgregor play along side Josh Harnet, in somalia?  Answer »
  • Which two movies had both Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom?  Answer »
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