Black Hawk Down (DVD 2002)

I've been watching this movie and its accompanying extras on DVD this week for the first time and I thought is ironic that this very American war story should be directed and produced by an Englishman (Ridley Scott) and have a large number of British actors cast as the American servicemen (Ewan McGregor, Jasson Issacs, Hugh Dancy, Euan Bremner, Orlando Bloom.) I suppose it's the equivalent of Steven Spielberg directing a film about the Battle of Goose Green during the Falklands War and casting Americans as members of the Parachute Regiment

Scott's movie is quite brave in that it has no major stars and no central character (unlike, say Tom Hanks in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN or Mel Gibson in WHEN WE WERE SOLDIERS). It's also largely free of the clichés of the genre: no soaring John Williams score accompanying shots of the flag fluttering in the sunlight; no scenes of the families back home. Instead its all about the logistics and the absolute horror of battle. This is the best combat footage since ZULU way back in 1964, a film which it resembles. In Scott's commentary description words, it is 'Anti-War but pro-military'.

Don't get me wrong but this is a great film and has some awsum action secenes in it. The problem that some people have is that is the typical American film, American soldiers go into hosile country, kill lots of enemy soldiers, lose one or two of thier own and then end up coming out ok. There might be a couple of changes to the american version of films, like the fact the americans actually have to call in NATO to save thier as*es, and they don't get the man that was captured back (even though it saights the man was released eventually) but this film has an excellent script and is a must own for anyone who loves war/actions films.

as with all reviews i write, im biased when it comes to films starring ewan mcgregor as i totally love him.
black hawk down isn't really my kind of film, it was incredibly well action packed but i like to know whats going on in a film and in this case, why theyre at war, yet i never fully understood that maybe perhaps as im not knowledgeable about foregin countries political issues.
apart from this i loved this film especially when ewan mcgregors character was blown up 3 times, he still managed to stay alive till the end. this film is very entertaining with great special effects and keeps you on your toes at all times with all the explosions and gun fights and the night fight at the end is especially spectacular.
this relly is a great film and should be added to every dvd collection!