Black Hawk Down (2001)

Eversmann (Josh Hartnett)

20100712:
There was one scene where I noticed the music, but the guns were shooting over it, and I only heard the music in between. Actually I might have remembered the music in another scene as well, but the score wasn't powerful enough to be memorable. The sound might have been, but not the score.

This movie didn't have too much to offer. While based on real life events, I would have expected some embellishment.

One thing I couldn't understand was why it was necessary to secure the crash sites.** As such, the situation just seemed like a series of mistakes and suicide rescues.

Hoot (Eric Bana)

In the end, I gathered that "no man is left behind" is the underlying principal and that the soldiers fight because "it's about the men next to you." Unfortunately, there was little character development and each death did not garner as much emotion as it should have.

Watching the helicopters was the best part of the film. I also enjoyed watching them take off from the base. The scenes where they crash were also highlights.*

The movie didn't have as much action and suspense as I was hoping.

I don't remember too many war movies, but from what I can remember, I probably like We Were Soldiers (2001), The Patriot, and Saving Private Ryan (1998) better than Black Hawk Down.

Grimes (Ewan McGregor)

*I didn't think the crashes were that interesting during my second viewing.
**During the second viewing, I gathered it was partially necessary to destroy the birds.

[20161020 Edit]

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20161020:
Originally planning to just do a screenshot viewing, the movie caught my interested and I decided to watch it the whole way through.

Garrison (Sam Shepard)

I previously rated the movie 4 out of 5 stars on Netflix. But after watching it today, I downgraded the movie to 3 out of 5 stars. While there were some interesting themes, the lack of character development was disappointing and the presentation of the themes was mediocre.

But, as a side note, I read my previous entry and would believe, based on it, that I should have only given the movie 3 out of 5 stars in the first place. Oh well.

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Instant Comments:
1: 600,000 soldiers died in the American Civil War (Wikipedia.org)

Twombly, Yurek (Thomas Guiry), and Nelson (Ewen Bremner)

Atto: You shouldn't have come here. This is a civil war. This is our war, not yours.
General Garrison: 300,000 dead and counting. That's not a war Mr. Atto. That's genocide

1: It took a while for me to recognize Orlando Bloom.
2: I immediately recognized Orlando Bloom (when he first appears on the copter)
2: Note: putting something in the mouth of a person having a seizure is no longer deemed appropriate.
2: Ewan McGregor looks so young.
2: Why would the civilians stand in the street?
1: Title mentioned. 2: "We got a Black Hawk down, we got a Black Hawk down."

McKnight (Tom Sizemore)

1: "I hate being dependable man."
1: The irony at about 1:00:00. 2: I must be referring to 1:02:03 when the kid ends up shooting someone he cares about
1: At 1:18:00 and mentioned earlier in the movie. The motto "no man gets left behind" is a tricky one. In a fictional movie, where everybody sacrifices themselves for the sake of only the protagonist and possibly some family members or love interest, that's all well and good. But realistically, no motto should be taken to the extreme.
1: "Where's the rescue squad?" "We're it."
1: At 2:04:11 Again with the "no man gets left behind." It'd say its a difficult motto to live by. It's one that is often seen as a mark of character. But I think its only reasonable in appropriate circumstances.

Sanderson (William Fichtner)

1: At 2:12:50:

"Hoot": When I go home and people ask me, "Hey, Hoot, why do you do it, man? Why? You some kind of war junkie?" I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand it's about the men next to you. And that's it. That's all it is.

Credits:
Begins with some information regarding the real-life events.
Ridley Scott
Based on...

Hans Zimmer
Josh Hartnett
Black Hawk Down
Ewan McGregor
Filmed on location in Sale and Rabat, Morocco.
Based on the series of articles originally published in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Watched 20100712 (Netflix, Instant)
Watched 20161020 (Netflix, Instant)
Black Hawk Down (2001) Ridley Scott. 144 min. [botnotsn (1999) by Mark Bowden]

Relevant Links:
Black Hawk Down (RottenTomatoes.com)
Black Hawk Down (IMDb.com)
Black Hawk Down (Wikipedia.org)
Black Hawk Down (book) (Wikipedia.org)