Black Hawk Down

UK Release Date: 18 January 2002

Certification: 15

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Ewen Bremner, Tom Hardy, Josh Hartnett, Jason Isaacs, Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepard, Tom Sizemore

Rating: 75%

Leave No Man Behind. 

Review:

Ridley Scott ensures technical brilliance in every film he's involved in and that's no different in the case of Black Hawk Down. The overall film doesn't hold up to some of his other features - Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator - but technically it's just as good. The editing and sound is immersive for which it won an academy award for both. And the dull grey and green colours help blood stains and explosions pop that little bit more. 

Whilst the ensemble cast assembled for Black Hawk Down is incredible, very few characters have any development due to conflicting screen time. Josh Hartnett does a great job as the leading man giving a convincing display of a soldier who is out of his depth. Since then he's really struggled to capture the same level of performance. Ewan McGregor is used well as his character's expectations are flipped on their head throughout the runtime of the film. Tom Sizemore fails to hit the heights of his performance in Saving Private Ryan but yet he succeeds in pleasing the audience as he tends to just wander about for the whole film. However, Eric Bana is the real star of Black Hawk Down. His macho man persona is nothing new in the war genre and yet somehow still feels inventive. He just elevates the experience for me, making everybody else around him a lot more engaging. There's never any danger of him not making it till the end of the film because he's simply that good. But, cast members like Orlando Bloom, Jason Isaacs and Sam Shepard feel two-dimensional. My only other criticism of the cast is the use of Tom Hardy. I understand he's young, and at this point unknown, but you can see his talent shining through when watching his limited screen time.

What Black Hawk Down lacks in character arcs and development it makes up for in visceral action. Both the audience and the characters don't get a moment to breath, from start to finish the movie is two and a half hours of non-stop intense, brutal action. Scenes are grotesque, vicious and the realistic depiction of war-like situations mean that no one is safe. The sheer ineptitude of authority figures in the film emphasises the point that this war cannot be won and is a mission to get out of the country rather than recapture it. 

On top of this Hans Zimmer delivers one of the most underrated scores of his career. The composition of 'Gortoz A Ran' is angelic in a similar way to 'Now We Are Free' from Gladiator. And 'Leave No Man Behind' provides the perfect backdrop to the closing shots of the film.