Review of Black Hawk Down (2001) by J M — 29 Jan 2011

Black Hawk Down spends about 15 minutes introducing characters and explaining the plot to viewers. What takes place for the next 2 hours is non-stop action that with the violent force of a play ground bully, takes the viewer and shakes him and rattles him to the bone. Watching this movie in 2010,I realised that so many young stars are present. Ridley Scott and his cast director really outdid themselves with the cast. The ironic thing though, and this is what holds this movie back from being a top 5 war movie of all time is the little to no character development. What you learn about the characters in this movie is who the hard asses are, and who the pussies are. You also learn that this is no pussy war movie much like Jarhead that followed it. Once the action in this movie starts, it never stops. Sequence after sequence of intense street to street fighting kept my attention locked onto this movie like few war movies have done before. What makes this movie so damn good is the realism and pure intensity of the action set pieces. The viewer feels almost as hopeless as the 123 men sent in there and Ridley Scott never stops the action. Not even for one damn minute so every one can cath their breath.

Black Hawk Down is as good as war movies get. It may not have the acting and plot of Saving Private Ryan, nor the lovable characters like Platoon but in terms of non stop relentless realistic war violence, this is a damn fine movie.