| Touted
as the first twenty minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" over
two hours, "Black Hawk Down" is little more than a hardware
fetishist's documentary, providing little insight into either the
military mind or the politics surrounding the battle of Mogadishu.
If
the point of this is that war is hell and you shouldn't hope to
get into one then it's been made a hundred times before. Nothing
of note here except for hardware junkies, and there is a lot of
hardware from nightvision goggles, RPGs, tanks, helicopters, guns
of all shapes and sizes and also lots of gore, people getting their
bodies chopped in half, losing their thumbs, hands, spraying blood
on their buddies and all over walls. But aside from the the unrelenting
nature of the violence it really doesn't have much to say beyond
"war is hell" and "never leave anyone behind".
Although
it gains points in portraying a real event, "Black Hawk Down"
loses much of its credibility in cliches and some scenes stretching
believability.
"Black
Hawk Down" seems unable to avoid the war movie cliches even
given the excellent source material from the Mark Bowden book and
his original Philadelphia
Enquirer series. There is the soldier who seemingly dooms himself
by dwelling on his loved ones at home. There is the medic who has
to be stopped from trying to resucitate a corpse (which spoiled
a visceral field operation scene, one of the best moments in the
film). There's Tom Sizemore who, despite a promotion in rank, is
really playing nothing more than the same supercompetent sergeant
we saw in "Saving Private Ryan" and in countless previous
war films.
Ooo
lookit that gear.
Other
scenes where the writers take liberty with our own knowledge of
the events and grasp on reality penalize a pretty good production.
For example, we are asked to believe that a white Delta Force member
wearing Oakleys, no disguise and riding a mountain bike can successfully
infilitrate Mogadishu to scout out Aideed. The same super soldier
declares after the mission is over that he's going back because
they left people behind.
There
is a semi-snide shot at Clinton at the end and some mumbling about
'they were there for a good cause'. Never mind that it was George
Bush Sr. who threw them into combat to begin with. Also
troubling is the lack of attention paid to the motivations and thoughts
of the Somalis (portrayed in the movie by Morrocans). In Mark Bowden's
book he includes many interviews with Somalis, providing the impression
that they saw the Americans as invaders once they came in with the
helicopters. Instead, the Somalis as they were portrayed in the
film could have easily been replaced by hordes of Aliens
or Rambo-esque commies.
Neither
are the Americans themselves portrayed in a better light. Although
20 minutes are spent trying to build characters of the swarming
helmeted Rangers, Delta Force and SOAR soldiers, only a handful
really are recognizable throughout the movie. Hunk du jour Josh
Harnett is capable as the young NCO who is forced to take command
of his 'chalk'. Ewan Macgregor is wasted as a clerk who finally
gets his wish for combat. Sam Shepherd as the overseeing general
of the operation doesn't get much of an examination for his role
in planning the ill-fated mission.
The
score by Hans Zimmer is as dripping as it was in "Gladiator".
I like Zimmer's work in another war film, the stellar "Thin
Red Line" where his swelling phrases are given time to dwell
in emotionalism. But his attempts to tie themes into a film that
lacks rhythm is wasted, especially when the almost obligatory inclusion
of the 'rock hits of the day' songs are pressed in. It's as if war
films have never progressed since "Apocalypse Now" put
the Rolling Stones into battle.
In
theatres now
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