Movie of the Week: Black Hawk Down

   

 

    Movie of the Week (5/26/13-6/1/13): Seeing as it is Memorial Day tomorrow I couldn't think of a better movie than one of my favorite war movies, Black Hawk Down. What we see in Black Hawk Down is the reason we celebrate the holiday of Memorial Day. The movie focuses on 123 U.S. Army Rangers sent into Somalia to recover two lieutenants of a very dangerous Somali warlord. The mission then turns into a deadly firefight when two Black Hawk helicopters are shot down. The mission then diverts itself into a rescue mission that lasts much longer than any of them anticipated.
    This well made war film is powered by a great cast from veteran actors to newer rookie actors, at the time, and they all truly did a great job. We have Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana, William Fichtner, Ewan Bremner, Sam Shepard, Ron Eldard, Ioan Gruffudd, Tom Guiry, Jeremy Piven, Tom Hardy, Matthew Mardsen Orlando Bloom, and Jason Isaacs. Was that enough for you? Yes, this was a great cast and what a wonderful job they did in their reactions and emotions. I bet that most of you did not know that Tom Hardy was in this movie, well he was, and I bet that most of you didn't know that "Smalls" from The Sandlot was in this either, well Tom Guiry was and he sure has grown up.
    As great as the cast was we also have to look at the technical aspects of the film that made it even better to set on a couch and watch for two hours and twenty minutes. First, it sounds great and in a war movie like this one that needs to be high on the list. The sound mixing and editing were both very well done, all the sounds around the soldiers mixes in well. The editing also is top notch, which is why it won Best Editing at the Oscars, because the amount of time they switch back and forth between the characters is amazing along with catching every other detail on screen in doing that, also great pacing with the help of the editing. One final aspect is the cinematography, which again is great because the film captures you visually and it looks great on the screen.       
    Well I have to talk about the films director Ridley Scott, who got nominated for Best Director at the Oscars which was his second in a row. Well to keep it simple, he did a fantastic job. We can easily tell that he wanted to show us the horror of war, and this mission, which is not very well known to most people. People who know about it only know about it from the movie, Ridley Scott took a book and brought it to the screen the best way he knew how. He gave it to us as realistic and as suspenseful as possible, he also gave us scenes that might bring a tear to our eyes, which is just fine because that was his point.
    Black Hawk Down compares to some of the greatest war movies ever, one in particular Saving Private Ryan, which is probably the best of all time. I believe it is one of the best because it is a modern showing of war and not just World War II and it gets it right, but without a doubt it is the best modern war film. With its heart breaking story, fantastic cast, wonderful editing, great sound editing and mixing, moving score, and perfect direction, Black Hawk Down is the perfect Memorial Day movie because it shows what our soldiers go through when they put on that United States uniform. The emotional ending will more than likely make you shed a tear for the ones we have lost throughout the years.                                                                                                       4/4 Stars