IMDb > Black Hawk Down (2001)
Black Hawk Down
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Black Hawk Down (2001) More at IMDbPro »

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Black Hawk Down (2001) -- 123 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis.
Black Hawk Down (2001) -- 123 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis.
Black Hawk Down (2001) -- Theatrical Preview
Black Hawk Down (2001) -- MattTrailer.com - Trailer (Flash)
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Overview

User Rating:
7.7/10   89,395 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 8% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Ridley Scott
Writers (WGA):
Mark Bowden (book)
Ken Nolan (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Black Hawk Down on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
18 January 2002 (USA) more
Genre:
Action | Drama | War more
Tagline:
Rangers Lead the Way. more
Plot:
123 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Won 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 29 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(225 articles)
Tom Hardy Is Thankful For 'Bronson,' 'Mad Max' And More In 2009
 (From MTV Movie News. 23 November 2009, 12:29 AM, PST)
Mark Wheatley at Towson University on graphic novels
 (From Comicmix. 14 November 2009, 7:15 AM, PST)
User Comments:
One of the best war movies of all time more (1028 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Josh Hartnett ... Eversmann

Ewan McGregor ... Grimes

Tom Sizemore ... McKnight

Eric Bana ... Hoot

William Fichtner ... Sanderson

Ewen Bremner ... Nelson

Sam Shepard ... Garrison
Gabriel Casseus ... Kurth

Kim Coates ... Wex

Hugh Dancy ... Schmid

Ron Eldard ... Durant

Ioan Gruffudd ... Beales
Tom Guiry ... Yurek (as Thomas Guiry)

Charlie Hofheimer ... Smith

Danny Hoch ... Pilla
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Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language.
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
144 min | Germany:142 min | USA:152 min (extended version)
Country:
USA
Language:
English | Somali
Colour:
Colour (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS (8 channels)
Certification:
Malaysia:18SG | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Portugal:M/16 | India:A | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA (re-rating on appeal) | Australia:R (original rating) | Brazil:14 | Canada:18A | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #38095) | Iceland:16
Filming Locations:
Kénitra Airbase, Morocco more
Company:
Revolution Studios more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
One of the favorite films of George W. Bush. more
Goofs:
Anachronisms: While 2Lt. John Beales is having an epileptic seizure, Days of the New's "Die Born" is being played by the soldiers in the background. The movie takes place in 1993, but the album from which this song originates was not released until 2001. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Dan Busch: There. Technicals, nine o'clock.
more
Movie Connections:
References "Tour of Duty" (1987) more
Soundtrack:
You're the Devil in Disguise more

FAQ

What are the differences between the Theatrical version and the Extended version of the movie?
Why did the one soldier put the severed hand he found into his pocket?
What happened to Sgt. Ruiz?
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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
233 out of 292 people found the following comment useful.
One of the best war movies of all time, 12 January 2002
10/10
Author: Edward Douglas (shades033) from New York, NY

When talking about war movies, there are many great ones that immediately spring to mind. Since the 70's, three of them have formed a bit of a holy trinity: Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, and Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. These three movies have set the bar for all other war movies that have come along since then. When it was announced that Gladiator director, Ridley Scott, would be adapting Mark Bowden's book, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, filmgoers knew that they would be in for a treat.

For whatever reason, I don't remember hearing much about the civil war in Somalia or about the Battle of Mogadishu on which Black Hawk Down is based. The plan seemed simple enough: the Army is sent into Somalia by the government to try to put an end to the Civil War. On October 3, 1993, a group of them were sent on a quick mission to capture the Somali warlord that had been running the country with an iron fist. It didn't take long for the operation to go completely FUBAR as two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. Things went from bad to worse, as the Rangers found themselves surrounded by thousands of armed Somalis, whose only goal was to shoot any American soldier that invaded their space. After "stirring up the hornet's nest", the mission becomes a desperate attempt to maintain the Rangers motto, "Leave No Man Behind".

Needless to say, Ridley Scott has made the ultimate war movie with Black Hawk Down. Unlike some war films that temper the battle with slower character-building sequences, you have to wait only thirty minutes for the Rangers' mission to go into effect. And the action doesn't stop for the next two hours, as the rest of the movie is filled with flying bullets, explosions and bloodshed. The fighting is so chaotic that it is hard to follow the action and tell what is happening, at times, and it becomes almost too easy to become desensitized to the violence. By the third time someone yells "RPG's!" though, the entire audience knows to duck and cover their ears.

While the American soldiers go in with a solid plan, it doesn't take long for panic to set in, and pretty soon, you're not sure which side is more disorganized. It's amazing to watch what seems like thousands of extras playing the Somali militia swarming over the soldiers, and the action and camerawork is reminiscent of a video game as the soldiers try to escape their precarious situation through the streets of Mogadishu. As the movie progresses, the tension continues to build as the grim and unrelenting hopelessness of the situation sets in both for the soldiers and the viewer.

It's pretty amazing how much has been made of the 19 downed American soldiers when over 1000 Somali men, women, and children were killed during the raid. While the movie is clearly weighed towards the American perspective, I can't imagine how it must have felt to be the guy who gets to play "Dead Somali with a Gun #354".

Although characterization has always been used extensively in war movies to get the viewer to care about the characters, Black Hawk Down works better because, for the most part, the soldiers are personified as little more than grunts in the field doing the bidding of their superiors. At least the soldiers had their names taped to their helmets, so that this didn't have the problem of some war movies, where it's sometimes hard to tell who is who. Some of the best performances of the film come from Tom Sizemore as the gung-ho Lt. McKnight and Josh Hartnett, who plays the sergeant who leads the mission and feels personal guilt every time a man is lost. Sam Shepard also is excellent as Major General William Garrison, who sits back in the safe zone watching his doomed men be overpowered by the enemy. Eric Bana's part is small, but he has some of the best lines in the film, really driving home the point of why soldiers do what they do. Ewan McGregor's role is even more minor and insignificant, but his Trainspotting compatriot, Ewen Bremner offers the movie's little bit of comic relief.

As expected in a Ridley Scott film, the visuals and camerawork are stunning with the movie having a gray almost monochromatic look that makes the orange flames and red blood really stand out. As is typical in Scott's recent movies, there is lots of flying dust, rubble and debris mixed with slow motion shots of falling bullet casings and splattered blood. He also uses animals and non-military personnel well in some of the shots to show that this firefight is happening in the middle of a populated market district.

A big deal has been made out of the blood and gore in Black Hawk Down, but what is any true war movie without it? Though most of the graphic violence on display is not far beyond Saving Private Ryan, there is at least one visceral sequence that will make most people squeamish, unless they watch those operation shows on The Learning Channel for entertainment. Black Hawk Down is quite an achievement in creating a realistic representation of an event in recent history. Most of this movie leaves the viewer aghast and incredulous of what they're watching, and it's hard to believe that something like this could possibly happen. Technically, this movie is an amazing feat that gives the viewer one of the most realistic impressions of what it would feel like to be in the middle of a war, which makes the atrocities of the event seem all the more real.

In a genre that has brought out some of the best in directors and actors, Black Hawk Down is easily the best war movie ever made, and it has replaced A Beautiful Mind as my candidate for Best Picture and Director.

Rating: 10 out of 10

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