Cheap Black Hawk Down (3-Disc Deluxe Edition) (DVD) (Josh Hartnett) Price

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Customer Reviews of Black Hawk Down (3-Disc Deluxe Edition)

A Cautionary Tale
Black Hawk Down is the film adaptation of Mark Bowden's mesmerizing chronicle by the same name. It recounts a 1993 incident involving U.S. Special Forces in Somalia, a routine half-hour mission that turned into the longest sustained firefight involving U.S. forces since the Vietnam War. A mixed group of helicopter-borne Rangers, Delta Force, and a few SEALs, supported by air cover and a convoy of ground vehicles, converged on a busy marketplace in downtown Mogadishu in a lightning raid to capture two top lieutenants of renegade warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid. The raiders were blindsided when literally thousands of Somali fighters emerged from the surrounding neighborhoods with machine guns, rockets, and other sophisticated weapons. Two blackhawk helicopters were quickly downed by rocket-propelled grenades, the ground convoy got battered and lost its way repeatedly trying to rescue the downed crews, and the entire force on foot found itself under seige until it was finally rescued the following morning. The casualties included 73 U.S. fighters wounded and 19 killed, as well as 500-1000 Somalis dead.

Black Hawk Down has by and large received excellent reviews, and it deserves them. For one thing, the film balances a lot of difficult things well. It memorializes the heroism of the American fighters without glamorizing their struggle; it captures the savagery and squalor of the fight in paradoxically beautiful cinematography; and it conveys the confusion and complexity of the battle while making it (mostly) apprehensible. A note about that last point: it's still a good idea to read the book before seeing the movie if you have the luxury of doing so. Before it was over, the battle sprawled over much of central Mogadishu - a large city - and encompassed several different groups of men in different sites. Director Ridley Scott does an admirable job of making sense of it all, but it will still be clearer if you read about it in stupendous (but fascinating) detail in Bowden's account.

Having said the foregoing, let me warn you that this is not a movie for everyone - far from it. Black Hawk Down is an exceptionally violent film. Not grauitously so: the violence is entirely in keeping with the truth of the event, and supports the themes of the film. But it's not easy to watch, all the same. One scene involving battlefield surgery, especially, is probably a good opportunity for the squeamish to hit the concession stand for a while.

With material like this, the ideal of character development and strong individual performances goes somewhat by the wayside. There are necessarily too many faces, and too many events going on, for the film to linger for any length of time on one individual. (If you want character development, check out A Beautiful Mind.) Still, the performances here are quite good given their limited parameters. Josh Hartnett comes fully into his own as the leader of a Ranger squad (a "chalk") who fights to keep his team focused on survival. Among the other performances, I liked William Fichtner as a Delta Force sergeant who takes initiative at a critical moment in the fight. You may know Fichtner from ensemble parts in other movies, such as The Perfect Storm, where he played the edgy outsider Sully.

As a film and as a historical document, Black Hawk Down definitely deserves your attention.

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Brutally Real
Ridley Scott did a magnificent job of conveying the horror and urgency of the disastrous U.S. military mission in Somalia in 1993 in which 18 Americans were killed and 70 wounded during 16 hours of street fighting. What was supposed to be a 45-minute mission went horribly wrong when two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by Somali rockets and American ground troops were left to fend for themselves in the streets of Mogadishu.

Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong: poor communications; unexpected numbers of the enemy; roadblocks; lack of food, water, and medical supplies.

The scope of this movie was huge and it was more a gritty and brutal documentary than a war movie. Scene by scene, hour by hour, the catastrophe was revealed to viewers. I was so glad I was watching it on DVD where I could take an occasional break from the intensity of this film. It did not glorify and romanticize war but rather gave us a view that is rarely seen and that brought the audience right into the heart of battle.

"Black Hawk Down" is a story of incredible courage in the face of overwhelming odds. These comparatively few heroic American troops fought so mightily and so bravely---what they overcame and endured is suitably memorialized by this film.

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A True Horror Film
It just doesn't get any better than this. I've seen this film 4 times & it never ceases to astound me. The acting is exceptional, Ridley Scott is directing here at the peak of his powers & Pietro Scalia should have received an Oscar for the outstanding editing job. The film itself functions more like a rocket ride than just a war film. The word visceral comes to mind. Violent? Frightening? Absolutely! But to demonstrate the true impact of war, for the soldiers & for us, there is no alternative. I noticed a fellow customer said this film is better than SAVING PRIVATE RYAN; am I the only one who noticed the huge hole in that film's storyline? Move over THREE KINGS, FULL METAL JACKET, THE THIN RED LINE...BLACK HAWK DOWN may just be the greatest war film ever made. Why? Because a war film isn't just bullets & the terrible death of comrades. Ridley Scott has shown us the true horror. I know it will haunt my dreams......