Black Hawk Down (2001)
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 170
Fresh: 129 | Rotten: 41
Though it's light on character development and cultural empathy, Black Hawk Down is a visceral, pulse-pounding portrait of war, elevated by Ridley Scott's superb technical skill.
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 41
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 12
Though it's light on character development and cultural empathy, Black Hawk Down is a visceral, pulse-pounding portrait of war, elevated by Ridley Scott's superb technical skill.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 435,535
My Rating
Movie Info
A quickly forgotten chapter in United States military history is relived in this harrowing war drama from director Ridley Scott, based on a series of Philadelphia Inquirer articles and subsequent book by reporter Mark Bowden. On October 3rd, 1993, an elite team of more than 100 Delta Force soldiers and Army Rangers, part of a larger United Nations peacekeeping force, are dropped into civil war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia, in an effort to kidnap two of local crime lord Mohamed Farah Aidid's top
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Josh Hartnett
Ranger Staff Sgt. Matt ... -
Ewan McGregor
Ranger spec. Grimes -
Jason Isaacs
Steele -
Tom Sizemore
Ranger Lt. Col. Danny M... -
Eric Bana
Delta Sgt. First Class ... -
William Fichtner
Delta Sgt. First Class ... -
Ewen Bremner
Spec. Sgt. Shawn Nelson -
Sam Shepard
Maj. Gen. William F. Ga... -
Kim Coates
Wex -
Hugh Dancy
Ranger Sgt. First Class... -
Ron Eldard
Chief Warrant Officer M... -
Ioan Gruffudd
Beales -
Tom Guiry
Yurek -
Charlie Hofheimer
Smith -
Danny Hoch
Pilla -
Zeljko Ivanek
Harrell -
Glenn Morshower
Matthews -
Gabriel Casseus
Ranger Spec. Mike Kurth -
Jeremy Piven
Walcott -
Brendan Sexton III
Kowalewski -
Johnny Strong
Shughart -
Richard Tyson
Busch -
Brian Van Holt
Struecker -
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Gordon -
Steven Ford
Cribbs -
Ian Virgo
Waddell -
Tom Hardy
Twombly -
Carmine Giovinazzo
Goodale -
Chris Beetem
Joyce -
Tac Fitzgerald
Thomas -
Matthew Marsden
Sizemore -
Orlando Bloom
Blackburn -
Kent Linville
Othic -
Enrique Murciano Jr.
Ruiz -
Michael Roof
Maddox -
George Harris
Atto -
Razaaq Adoti
Mo'alim -
Treva Etienne
Firimbi -
Ty Burrell
Wilkinson -
Boyd Kestner
Goffena -
Jason Hildabrant
Jollata -
Gregory Sporleder
Galentine -
Johann Myers
Somali Father -
Dana Woods
Fales -
Abdibashir Mohamed Hersi
Somali Spy -
Pavel Vokoun
Briley -
Kofi Amankwah
Somali Kid -
Joshua Quarcoo
Somali Kid -
Lee Geohagen
Somali son with gun
ADVERTISEMENT
Black Hawk Down Trailer & Photos
All Critics (171) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (136) | Rotten (41) | DVD (54)
I also don't know how well this 2001 drama represents the events of October 3 and 4, 1993, though I can see that it represents them in a realist vein, referring to other war movies without becoming frivolous.
Black Hawk Down makes that point without preachment, in precise and pitiless imagery. And for that reason alone it takes its place on the very short list of the unforgettable movies about war and its ineradicable and immeasurable costs.
A relentless immersion in combat strikingly realized but none too pleasurable to sit through.
[Scott] does a reasonable job sketching the complicated and contradictory political context, but attempts to bring in the odd Somali perspective are grossly inadequate.
Top CriticA first-rate war movie that presents its subject so horrifyingly well that it doesn't need to probe or preach.
[D]efinitely worth seeing for those amazing battle sequences.
It looks fantastic, not least because it boasts helicopter scenes to rival those of Apocalypse Now.
Violent depiction of a risky rescue; adults only.
No film from the Zeroes - hell, maybe ever - more forcefully imparted the horrors of war as thoroughly, coherently and hauntingly. Even justified wars run rampant with monstrosities, and this showed just how critical camaraderie can be in conquering them.
Black Hawk Down" is a precise vision of how little war has changed in spite of America's high-tech equipment and extensive vocabulary of modern tactics.
While fine films like Saving Private Ryan depict warfare at its worst, they do not depict warfare in modernity. I cannot imagine a better representation of war, with all of its urban complexities, than Black Hawk Down.
Action masters Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer prove that it is possible to extend the opening twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan to two full hours. Now all they have to do is spend some of that time creating characters to care about.
It would've been nice to get to know a few of the men we're meant to care about.
Ambitious, sumptuously-framed and frenetic, Black Hawk Down occasionally errs on the confused, but is nonetheless a rare find of a war movie which dares to turn genre convention on its head.
The cast is solid, but with the focus on action and very few lines included which allow the actors to individualize their characters, the soldiers tend to blur as much as the fighting.
Though visually awesome in its gritty portrayal of combat, the film is marred by lack of coherent or engaging story and distinguishable characters to anchor the tale.
'Black Hawk Down' jerks you around, slaps the side of your head, and kicks your butt back up to keep moving on. [Published 1-26-02]
n some ways it is an ultimate expression of where violence in movies has been headed, to a constant, relentless cavalcade of slaughter and destruction.
War is inevitable, and often gruesome, but it also turns brave soldiers into heroes.
One helluva war film.
Audience Reviews for Black Hawk Down
Super Reviewer
Among with his talented photographer Slawomir Idziak, director Ridley Scott takes us in the middle of one of the most complex military operations in the USA-history. This is film about Americans as heroes and Somalis as a bad guys. In war there are only casualties, but oddly Scott still is more concerned about American troops than any of Somalis. Somalis which are here called racistically as skinnies are nothing but cattle who run towards their enemies while screaming. This approach is very typical in American war-entertainment. When Americans does something, it is often heroic and shot with heroic slow motion underlined by Hans Zimmer's noisy music.
The whole topic of destruction and despair that nearly 100 army rangers with support of delta forces went through in 1993 Mogadishu, Somalia, when 1-hour mission was extended into over 15-hours mission where 19 americans and approximetely 1000 somalis died makes Black Hawk Down a tough film to sit through. It's subject matter is extremely graphic and dark and it is also a film that leaves nothing for the imagination of the viewer. It is pure in your face experience that shows every nasty and gory detail of the operation gone horribly wrong.
Scott is trying to make this technically impressive and mostly succeeds but then again what is there to left if there is no interesting characters or screenplay to make it worthwile? Quite honestly this film relies too much on the visual mayhem and leaves characters at the background. The soldiers in the film feels more like a cardboard characters and we hardly get to know any of them.
Overall i find Black Hawk Down disgusting advertisement for American military. It is actually more closer to an straightforward propaganda-film than objective insight into war. This is noisy and disgusting film that gave me only a headache.
Super Reviewer
-
- Twombly: We almost fucking killed you! Well, come to us!
- Yurek: Fuck you! Come to me!
-
- Ruiz: Don't go back out without me.
-
- Steele: Anybody comes through that door, you give 'em two in the chest and one in the head.
-
- Delta Sgt. First Class "Hoot" Gibson: Y'know what I think? Don't really matter what I think. Once that first bullet goes past your head, politics and all that shit just goes right out the window.
-
- Harrell: We've got a Black Hawk down. We've got a Black Hawk down.
-
- Yurek: What's wrong with him?
- Twombly: Oh, he's deaf. My fault.
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Black Hawk Down yet.
Latest News on Black Hawk Down
August 15, 2007:
Wiseman Will Escape from New YorkJust about two weeks ago, we discussed the rumor that Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman was...
February 16, 2007:
Marsden Signs On for "Rambo 4" DutyNo, not "X-Man" James Marsden; we're talking about Matthew Marsden. He'll be playing a...
February 3, 2006:
Potter Part 5 Gets Production UnderwayPrincipal photography will commence February 6 at England?s Leavesden Studios on "Harry Potter...
What's Hot On RT
Bradley Cooper's Best Movies
Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh
Fast & Furious cars gallery
Blockbusters ranked!
Featured on RT
- Critics Consensus: Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh 17
- Red Carpet Photos with Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano and More 0
- Video: The Hangover Part III Cast Interviews 0
- Total Recall: Bradley Cooper's Best Movies 37
- Parental Guidance: Epic and Beautiful Creatures 2
- Comic Book Movies You Can Watch Online 9
- In Pictures: The Cars of Fast & Furious 0
Top Headlines
-
Evan Peters Joins X-Men: Days of Future Past
0
-
Toby Jones Talks Captain America: The Winter Soldier
0
-
The Poltergeist Reboot May Actually Be a Sequel
6
-
Will Forte Promises MacGruber 2
1
-
Universal Plans Timecop Reboot
2
-
Return of the Jedi Turns 30
0
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Take Place in L.A.
0
Fresh Links
Featured
Star Trek Movies Ranked
HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 Star Trek Villains
Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Plenty of action in this film. It's loaded with plenty of exploisions, blood, and gore. It's sad, funny, and like any war film, scary that people go through this. It's not a movie I would watch again. I just don't watch most war flicks more than once."