Black Hawk Down (Widescreen)

New York Times - 12/28/2001
"...There may be no working director more accomplished at wringing texture out of the color blue than the prodigious and now prolific Mr. Scott..."

USA Today - 12/28/2001
"...BLACK HAWK's knockout photography, editing and sound are all state of the art..."

Rolling Stone - 01/31/2001
"...A personal best for producer Jerry Bruckheimer, a triumph for Scott and a war film of prodigious power. You will be shaken..."

Variety - 12/10/2001
"...[The] images have a raw, vital quality that heightens the urgent, you-are-there quality of the action, and all the equipment, effects and military-related details are superb..."

Sight and Sound - 02/01/2002
"...[Made] with immense technical skill and spectacular photography..."

Box Office - 03/01/2002
"...Well-made..."

Chicago Sun-Times - 03/31/2002
"...Gripping, incisive....An attempt to record as accurately as possible what it was like to be under fire on that mission..."

Ultimate DVD - 07/01/2007
3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he aerial photography of Black Hawks sweeping across the coastline is stunning....Technically the film is excellent..."

From acclaimed director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Hannibal) and renowned producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pearl Harbor, Armageddon) comes a gripping true story about bravery, camaraderie and the complex reality of war. 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 out-numbered and literally fighting for their lives.

On October 3, 1993, Army Rangers and members of the elite Delta Force participated in a covert operation in Mogadishu, Somalia that went horribly wrong. Sent to abduct two lieutenants of a vicious Somali warlord, the soldiers found themselves surrounded by hostile militia. Two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and many men lost their lives. Mark Bowden of the Philadelphia Inquirer told the story of the battle in his exhaustively researched, critically acclaimed book, BLACK HAWK DOWN, and filmmaker Ridley Scott (GLADIATOR) and screenwriter Ken Nolan have done an amazing job of bringing the dramatic story to the screen. Like Bowden's book, the film does not thoroughly examine the context of the conflict, but gives a detailed and intense blow-by-blow account of the fighting. The outstanding ensemble cast includes Josh Hartnett as a competent but nervous Ranger sergeant leading his first mission, Ewan McGregor as a "desk jockey" who excels when sent into combat, Eric Bana (THE INCREDIBLE HULK) as a cocky and enigmatic Delta, and Ron Eldard as a downed Black Hawk pilot. The violence of the film is brutal and nearly constant. Scott unflinchingly captures the chaos and mayhem of battle with tremendous visual finesse.

Africa | Essential Cinema | Politics | Theatrical Release | War