Black Hawk Down

Published 2011-11-27

Film info

Title Black Hawk Down
Director Ridley Scott
Year 2001
Run time 2hr 24m
Genres Action, War, History
Tagline Leave no man behind
Cast Ewan McGregor, William Fichtner, Tom Hardy

In 1993, an elite group of American Rangers and Delta Force soldiers are sent to Somalia on a critical mission to capture a violent warlord whose corrupt regime has led to the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Somalis. When the mission goes quickly and terribly wrong, the men find themselves outnumbered and literally fighting for their lives.

Live Blog

Time	Comment
2:24	I am going to struggle to follow this, I can tell.
4:44	What was the point of them even being there if they could only watch?
6:01	For some reason, I have it in my head that Eric Bana was Batman but that is not so. He would have been good at it though.
8:52	Lots of cigar smoking going on.
10:17	Great music.
10:24	Also, William Fichtner! I love him.
16:54	If movies teach us anything, it is that you shouldn't do impressions of people as they will inevitably be standing behind you.
18:45	That's my Ioan Gruffudd!! Wowsers. This is the best film ever.
20:20	Oh, he's being discharged. This is the worst film ever.
22:43	I am glad they explained the plan to us, but I didn't understand a word of it.
26:59	An observation, not a criticism but I take it there are no women in this film at all.
31:44	"You know what I think? It don't matter what I think."
37:42	It might be a primitive early warning system but it does the job.
38:21	They're not being very subtle about it.
42:03	I prefer the helicopters that can land and take off quickly rather than the ones that need the ropes.
44:32	I can't believe he fell.
46:41	They have him already? That was easy.
51:08	I am amusing myself with nicknames for all the guys because I have no clue of their actual names.
54:46	Oh, watching things fall out of the sky is so not good for me. Great piloting though.
1:00:10	Lots of different groups of people and all of them shooting a lot. I'm a bit confused who is who. My nicknames are useless.
1:09:21	And thus he got shot in the back. Far too much foreshadowing going on.
1:12:03	Flying down that rope must be scary because you are a sitting duck.
1:14:14	No one told me it was TWO black hawks down. This is awful.
1:20:43	Now they're shooting at their own men. This is the worst mission in the history of the world.
1:27:14	They're just sending in two people? That's a small perimeter.
1:35:48	Actually almost cried then. Can't remember the last time that happened.
1:45:09	A hostage situation, that's all we need.
1:57:10	Oh, it's all Blackburn's fault. Stoopid Legolas.
2:01:46	That guy just wanders around as if their is no gunfire at all.
2:03:38	The no one getting left behind thing is admirable and understandable, but surely there has to be a limit.
2:05:09	Jeez louise, it's daylight again now. They must be knackered.
2:10:16	Does anyone know/care about the hostage?
2:15:46	Ah, he gets an on-screen note at the end.

Thoughts

This is one that I am aware of as one of the big blockbusters, but it's not a film that I know much about. I didn't know the story at all, and it wasn't until about halfway through that Mr C mentioned it was a true story. I do need to work on my general knowledge.

This film was awful, terrible, sad, depressing and downright difficult. Which, of course, makes it amazing. It's the first movie in a long, long time that genuinely moved me and although a lot of it was difficult to watch, it was never boring. For a 2hr+ film, that's pretty impressive. My only complaint is that there were too many characters who were quite indistinguishable from each other. My nickname trick only worked for about three or four of them.

Rating: 5 / 5