Black Hawk Down
 

Just saw this again on the telly, was curious what people's thoughts on it are. Its the first Ridley Scott film I saw, only other one I've seen is Gladiator, which I wasn't hugely impressed with.

I think BHD is a terrific film, it has great action without being too Rambo and a very strong cast. The music is superb, to me its a great example of how important the soundtrack is to a movie. It doesn't drag, despite its length, and so many different facets of the battle are shown that it never stops being interesting. Some really great shots in it too(I don't usually notice that sort of thing).

Re: Black Hawk Down
 

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Just saw this again on the telly, was curious what people's thoughts on it are. Its the first Ridley Scott film I saw, only other one I've seen is Gladiator, which I wasn't hugely impressed with.

I think BHD is a terrific film, it has great action without being too Rambo and a very strong cast. The music is superb, to me its a great example of how important the soundtrack is to a movie. It doesn't drag, despite its length, and so many different facets of the battle are shown that it never stops being interesting. Some really great shots in it too(I don't usually notice that sort of thing).

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This is, IMO, the most accurate war movie ever made (We Were Soldiers is a close second). The special edition has a facinating commentary track by a delta colonel (guy guy in the control room with Sam Shepard), a ranger colonel (played by Tom Seizmore) and the real Matt Eversman (Played by Josh Hartnett), and they go into great detail about the actual events and how that was tranferred to the screen. All of them basically say that this movie is a near perfect recreation of the incident (all things considered. YOu gotta remember that the original battle was just under 30 hours long and had over 100 soldiers participating)

The movie is great in that it is a battle movie. It doesn't ham anything up, it doesn't try to take any poetic liscense a la Apocalypse Now and it doesn't pull any strings. It's a just a straight from the gut battle movie. THe most amazing thing is just like you said, most of the movie is straight action, and yet it doesn't seem overstated and it doesn't feel drawn out.

Oh, and the commentary by the screenwriter is hilarious.

Re: Black Hawk Down
 

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This is, IMO, the most accurate war movie ever made (We Were Soldiers is a close second).

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I read both books before seeing the movies which may taint my views/opinion. I thought BHD was very good, but We Were Soldiers was a significant step down from the book.

A notable PC type mistake occurred near the end of We Were Soldiers. A large group of reporters fly in to report on the battle. If memory serves, about a third of the reporters were female. Not likely in 1965 Viet Nam.

The most accurate war movie IMO was Das Boot, or at least accurate in the was life on a sub was portrayed.

~ Rick

Re: Black Hawk Down
 

The soundtrack and the visuals make this movie for me. I don't own many DVDs, but I made sure to get this one as one of my first. I really like it.

Re: Black Hawk Down
 

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The soundtrack and the visuals make this movie for me. I don't own many DVDs, but I made sure to get this one as one of my first. I really like it.

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what i found really cool was that Hans Zimmer made the soundtrack in 2 weeks. It shows, in that the compositions are more simple than his others (gladiator, for example) but it doesn't, at all, take away from soundtrack.

Re: Black Hawk Down
 

Search the web and you'll find all sorts of stuff on that incident. I remember finding the actual radio transmissions that were along side the story.

It was a pretty effed up situation.

b

Re: Black Hawk Down
 

very enjoyable, and true to the VERY enjoyable book

Re: Black Hawk Down
 

I love the movie. My step dad went to high school with one of the guys that was killed in the real incident.

Re: Black Hawk Down
 

I thought this movie was very good as well. I remember when the real event happened and most people in America just recall seeing a few of the horrible pictures of the US solder being dragged in the streets. Many did not know the entire situation and of the course the public outcry was to the US troups removed.

Re: Black Hawk Down
 

It's been awhile since I saw it, but I thought this movie was very forgettable. There was nothing wrong with the action, the story, or the visuals, it was just a general disconnect with any of the characters. I didn't really care what was happening to them because they'd never been developed to the point of me having an interest in thier fate. It was just action and people dying. My wife was a huge fan of the book and she left with the same reactions.