Review of Black Hawk Down

Introduction

Based on events that took place in 1993 in Mogadishu this is a gripping and ultimately terrifying portrayal of what happened to a couple of hundred American Rangers and Delta Force soldiers, and thousands of Somalis.

Initially the soldiers are bought in to capture two of General Aidid`s top men, an operation supposed to take half an hour max. They enter the building, capture the men, but in the mean time Aidid`s men are alerted to their presence and shoot down one of the Black Hawk helicopters providing air cover. From this point on the initiative has been lost as the soldier`s motto is to "leave no man behind". Now they have to race to the fallen helicopter to defend the pilots inside, however they are hugely outnumbered in a very violent and hostile land where many different kinds of weaponry are sold in outdoor markets. What should have been a half hour mission turns into a 15-hour nightmare.

This is a blisteringly honest telling of the soldiers caught up in this terrible battle. When I heard direction was coming from Ridley Scott, I thought who better? But when I heard it was being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, I thought who worse? However, this is not one of his normal films with slick-ass Americans throwing out smarmy one liners all in the name of "entertainment". It would have been offensive to the soldiers that fought and died in this battle (Somalis as well as Americans). Luckily this has been treated with the respect it deserves and Bruckheimers` most mature production to date.

All credit to director Scott however, who paces the film excellently letting us "be" with the main characters and allowing the build up of nervous tension in the first half hour. After that, you`re pretty much trapped in hell for the next two hours as Scott deftly demonstrates the tension, confusion, character and courage of the individuals concerned.

The ensemble cast includes Josh Hartnett in the lead role as a leader of the young rangers. Giving an excellent performance as a nervous leader who steps up to the task in the heat of battle. Other highlights to point out are Ewan McGregor`s terrible American accent, and Tom Sizemore`s mature leader of his men. A special mention here goes to Ewan Bremner, whose small role provides occasional light relief to this very heavy subject, however he never lays it on too thick with his very well judged performance.

Video

Shot in a 2.35:1 anamorphic ratio, Columbia Tristar have done an exceptional job on the transfer of this DVD. It really is a pleasure to behold. The heat of Mogadishu literally blisters off the screen with scorching, bleached yellows, oranges and whites. As we continue through the afternoon the sky cools and pales with pinkish hues and cooler blue tones seeping through. The DVD has no troubles picking these wonderful tones up, giving a very three-dimensional quality to the "atmosphere" of the picture. And if you`re wanting to "be there" in the middle of the action I can`t really say fairer than that.

Night-time comes and the darker tones kick in. Shadow detail is excellent and this really is something special considering how much is actually going on. Finally the morning starts to appear again with that initial dawn promise of another scorcher. It is all wonderfully captured, beautifully atmospheric and is up there with the very best DVD encoding. If I didn`t know any better, it could be one of Columbia Tristars` Superbit recordings.

Audio

Black Hawk Down won this year`s Oscar for best sound, and it`s easy to see why with this exceptionally detailed soundtrack. There are elements of Gladiator, and looking on the DVD sleeve I see that Hans Zimmer is responsible for the score. The tension is set up well with some pensive, edgy music before the Rangers and Delta Force go into the heart of Mogadishu. And when it all kicks off, BOY do you know it! From the first rocket launched against the Black Hawk, punching out of the centre, swooshing from behind and flying through and out the back of the centre speaker; at the same time the Hawk leering off to the right to avoid the missile.

Soon after the crackle of gunfire starts and rarely ceases for the rest of the film. Each speaker gets a taste placing the fire in the fore, mid and background all around you. It really is a terrifying and suffocating sound. Meanwhile the confused shouts of the soldiers are still legible as well as a more subdued track from Zimmer (letting the action do the talking - not much need for "emotive" scoring here, the rest conveys that exceptionally well).

The sub is used for the more powerful gunfire and explosions, but again, this sound is played at more realistic depths rather than pluming the bottom floor of the sub just for the sake of it. The big machine guns sound mightily powerful, there is no need for any extra emphasis and by holding back on the sub slightly means the other frequencies of the guns (the metallic rings and high pitched shots from the muzzle) are very clear. Very realistic and extremely visceral.

Features

I was gutted to find that director Scott had not done a commentary for this film. He has done exceptional ones on others (Alien and Gladiator to name two - can`t wait to hear Thelma & Louise!), so its very disappointing that one hasn`t been included here. In fact the extras are rather sparse - a pity on such a good film with an enticing history. However, what we have are…

Black Hawk Down: On the Set Featurette. This meanders from being interesting to shameless advertising. The highlights are the training the actors went through, however this isn`t covered in great detail. You get to understand the psyche of the people involved which helps your knowledge and understanding of subsequent watches of the film. I did like the fact that this featurette was a non-anamorphic 16:9 presentation. There must be a very large portion of the DVD buying population that have widescreen TV`s, so for extra features to come in a 4:3 format seems ludicrous. Well done Tristar. Other than that you get trailers for Spiderman and The One. These are also 5.1 mixes and so the extras section gets a couple of extra points for such new film trailers with DD sound.

Conclusion

This is a solid film with a gripping true-life story. It is well acted with a great pace and exceptional realism from director Scott. The picture is exemplary. I have described the various hues of the day in the Picture section, but everything is exceptional - the sweat gunnelling off the Somalis, giving their black skin a wonderful, and somehow powerful sheen - the dust storms around the Hawks… I could go on. The sound is also first rate, in turns giving a wide expansive feel to the area and a suffocating closeness. The extras are sparse, and that`s a pity on such an interesting film, however the featurette is in widescreen and the very new trailers are in DD 5.1 which is worth a couple of extra points.

Just buy it. Stunning!