Black Hawk Down

[Scott]

Just seen BLACK HAWK DOWN at the theater. Great visual film about a real battle.  An intense film that is a must see on the big screen. I don't want to say much more.

[Lord_Humungous]

I would think giving away the ending to this film would be like giving away the ending to 'Apollo 13'.  Aren't the details a matter of public record?

Or is this film 'loosely' based on real-life events?

[Scott]

Well, yes your right. Just that the ideal of the U.N. having to come in a get them out at the end for me was a downer. The U.N. is such a phony piece of garbage.

[Jim Hepler]

From what I've read, it is quite accurate.  People saying it is as gory/violent as Saving Private Ryan are, frankly, lying or decieving themselves though.

I'd say it is an unbalanced movie, but considering what's been going in the last few months, I wasn't suprised.  The Americans are great, the "skinnies" are bad.  I'd of like to of seen more character development on both sides, and more motivations for both.  It would of spiced it up a bit for many if they had also mentioned Aidid was funded and supported for quite some time by the US of A - kind of an Osama parallel.  Still, it was a decent movie - though some of the comic relief was extremely out of place.

Interesting of note, Ewan McGregor's character (Grimes in the movie, Stebbins in real life) is now serving a 30 year sentence for raping a 12 year old girl.

[Lord_Humungous]

"People saying it is as gory/violent as Saving Private Ryan are, frankly, lying or decieving themselves though."

In what way?  I haven't seen 'Black Hawk Down' and as of right now I don't plan to.  

I liked 'Private Ryan'  The first 20 minutes particularly.  It was the first time a war movie made the phrase 'cannon fodder' really mean something to me.  That and the fact that after that movie came out a lot of the elderly men around this small farm comminuty I live in actually started talking about their experiences.  I've known these guys all my life and never once did I think of them as anything other than farmers.  Nice guys who'd help you out in a pinch, offer you a beer and talk about the weather.  After 'Ryan' they started talking about the friends they lost, having their toes rot off from frost bite or infection.  The names of the battles they had been in were the stuff Grand, Sweeping War Sagas had been made about, but they didn't talk about personal heroism.  They just spoke of a job that had to be done.  And then the conversation would turn back to the weather and how so-n-so's corn crop was coming along.

[Flangepart]

I haven't yet decided if i want to see this one. Too Real? It might be like Pvt. Ryan for me. A great film i can't bring myself to watch agine. Not an insult to the film, rather a compliment on how it reached me on a gut level. So good, once is enough. Like Band of Brothers too. Does that make any sense?

[Chris K.]

After seeing the Jerry Bruckheimer-Michael Bay features like ARMAGEDDON and PEARL HARBOR, I vowed never to see any film made by these two hacks ever again since their intentions of making a film are not very impressive or motavational for the viewer (but I will say I liked ARMAGEDDON for it's use of slick humor and good actors, but still had a lacluster script as it seemed to rip-off the Japanese sci-fi film GORATH, overblown special effects, very little characters to care about, and a poor plot). Bruckheimer's features have absolutely no heart at all and he makes bad choices in picking directors.

And now comes BLACK HAWK DOWN, a film based on a true incident with absolutely no romance or love story at all. Has Bruckheimer, the money-stealing hack, finally changed after the failure of his beloved PEARL HARBOR? Has this a***ole learned his lesson? And has Bruckheimer finally picked a winning director like Ridley Scott to helm this feature in the right position? I don't really know.

I have read some reviews on BLACK HAWK DOWN and I have heard so-so on it. I might give it a chance, but if I see it in the theatre I am going to get in for free rather than paying $7.50 on a Bruckheimer film.

[Neville]

I am with Chris K. After such terrible movies, I promised myself not to watch anything with Bruckheimer involved. But Ridley Scott has pulled some good movies later (I think Gladiator and, specially Hannibal are great), and I think he deserves a chance. And being a not-US director and dealing with a US failed operation, I hope the film won't be as patriotic as other films that are being screened after 11-S. Because I guess it is not very annoying for an US audience, but it certainly is for the people from other countries, even if we try to take it with a pinch of salt, as somebody suggested in another post.

Anyway, the film looks promising, and with Scott directing it is quite likely I'll end up watching the movie.