Black Hawk Down

“We have a Black Hawk Down. We have a Black Hawk Down.” Based on the book by Mark Bowden and the events that took place during the Battle of Mogadishu, Black Hawk Down successfully captures the horror of war. A mission that was suppose to take 30 minutes turned into a bloody 18-hour battle. When given the time estimate the Americans had not counted on two Black Hawk helicopters being shot down. At the end of the battle, 19 Americans and over 1000 Somalis were dead.

Probably the most horrifying scene is when Master Sergeant Tim “Griz” Martin (Kim Coates) is torn in half by a rocket-propelled grenade, more commonly known as an RPG. He tells Lieutenant Colonel Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore) to let his wife and daughter know that he will be alright, passing immediately afterwards. A majority of the movie is bloody and gory so keep young children away while watching it.

Black Hawk Down won two Academy Awards: Best Editing (Pietro Scalia) and Best Sound (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga and Chris Munro). It was nominated for two others: Best Director (Ridley Scott) and Best Cinematography (Slawomir Idziak).

Eleven of the characters who played Americans soldiers are actually not Americans. Four are British: Orlando Bloom (Private First Class Todd Blackburn), Tom Hardy (Specialist Lance Twombly), Jason Isaacs (Captain Mike Steele) and Matthew Marsden (Specialist Dale Sizemore). Two are Scottish: Ewen Bremner (Specialist Shawn Nelson) and Ewan McGregor (Specialist John Grimes). Eric Bana (Sergeant First Class Norm "Hoot" Hooten) is Australian, Kim Coates is Canadian, Ioan Gruffudd (Lieutenant John Beales) is Welsh, Zeljko Ivanek (Lieutenant Colonel Gary Harrell) is Slovenian, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Master Sergeant Gary Gordon) is Danish. Each does a great job using  American accents. Eric Bana in particular does a great job adopting a unique American accent. In several other movies, such as Troy, Star Trek, and Munich, he has also done a great job of hiding his heavy Australian accent.

Though it was not 100 percent accurate, Black Hawk Down tells the story of the Battle of Mogadishu effectively. Specialist John Grimes is actually a fictional character based off John Stebbins. In the actual battle the soldiers did not wear helmets with their names on them, but director Ridley Scott had the names put on the helmets in the movie because characters looked similar in their uniforms. The main character, Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett), is actually based off three different people: the real SSG Eversmann, Lieutenant Colonel Tom DiTomasso, and Lieutenant Colonel Larry Perino.

The movie was filmed in Kénitra, Morocco. It was decided that citizens of the surrounding areas would be hired as extras. This helped lessen the tension caused by the film crew’s presence.

Black Hawk Down was simply great from start to finish. Ridley Scott was able to incorporate non-stop action with no expense to the storyline. Each American death is an emotional one, especially when Eversmann losses his best friend Corporal Jamie Smith (Charlie Hofheimer), who is shot while saving SPC Twombly. Right before he dies, Smith tells Eversmann to tell his mom and dad that he fought hard.

Black Hawk Down is the best war movie I have ever seen. Whether you are looking for action or just a good storyline, Black Hawk Down is a movie you need to see.