Black Hawk down - 4K + Blu-ray + Digital

Black Hawk Down is an intense, gripping war film that delivers a realistic and harrowing portrayal of modern combat. Ridley Scott’s direction puts viewers right in the middle of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, with expertly staged action sequences that are chaotic, immersive, and emotionally powerful. The ensemble cast delivers strong performances, bringing humanity to the soldiers amid the violence and confusion. Cinematography and sound design are top-notch, making every moment feel visceral and immediate. While the film is relentless in its intensity and can be hard to watch at times, it’s a compelling, well-crafted depiction of bravery, sacrifice, and the horrors of war.

This is the story of the disastrous raid in Mogadishu on October 3rd, 1993. (The battle lasted over to the next morning, meaning the soldiers were trapped with dwindling ammo, no food, and little if any water in that climate overnight.) Several of the men who participated in that battle served as advisors or extras on the film, which resulted in one Ranger getting his SAG card! There were a few teensy errors----a couple pieces of music on the soundtrack weren't released at the time, the Grisham book seen in one scene wasn't released in paperback at the time----but it did a very good job in displaying what real combat is like, without going too far in one direction or another, as civilians are wont to do when depicting soldiers. We either wind up getting shown as emotionless robots or overly emotional wrecks. The raid was doomed from the beginning, as Colonel Bobby McKnight dryly points out. "Daytime, in the afternoon, when they're all (non-Amazon-approved expletive) up on khat, in the one part of the city where they can muster resistance at the drop of a hat? What's not to like?" (Paraphrased.) Soldiers pride themselves on their bearing, their self control, their strength, so there were a few scenes that were a little 'actorish' but not nearly as often as one finds them in other, less serious, movies. (It's easier, I suspect, to portray emotions than to first attain self control and portray controlled-emotions spilling out due to extreme conditions.) The Army wanted to go in to get a bunch of Aidid henchmen, but their own lax security meant that the population was ready for them. One guy in the book mused on the various flaws in their security: the aircraft hanger they were in faced the city so anybody with binoculars could see when the troops started running around getting ready, plus it was protected only by Hescos by the chow hall, so all it would take was one suicide bomber at chow time and you'd take out a whole squad at least. There's one extremely low-key but chilling scene where the Blackhawks are flying into the city and a kid with an early-era cell phone holds it up to catch the sound of the rotars---and the soldiers think the kid is waving. By the time the choppers get to the target area, the tire fires are burning, funeral pyres for victims that still have a short while to live. Two choppers down meant the mission lost the 'initiative', a term that has a lot of meaning for soldiers, some of it nearly superstitious. The personnel from the choppers had to be rescued, even if they were dead, but the fighting was so incredible that the bodies of Shughart and Gordon wound up getting left behind to be dragged through the streets. The bravery of Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart was given a matter-of-fact treatment that might have reduced the impact on civilians, but Sam Sheppard's dry, pained questioning of the two made it clear that they knew they were going to almost certain death. The film also captured what looked like realistic shooting; the Americans tended to pick their shots carefully, while the Somalians sprayed, which is what so many directors have so many characters do in far too many movies. In real life, sometimes one finds civilians get bribed to do this for fifty bucks and the emptying of a certain number of magazines. The movie has an amazing cast of headliners in every role, from Sam Sheppard as General Garrison, to Jason Isaacs as Captain Steele. A couple of the REAL pilots from the battle flew the choppers, and some of the extras were portrayed by participants as well. (I noted with some amusement that the actors were put through a truncated version of one of the courses I took during my first enlistment!) When one thinks of what this movie would have been like in other hands, it's enough to make one cringe. The high-powered cast makes the characters memorable, because battles don't leave a lot of room for lengthy speeches, and the only glitches---as I noted---are minor and mostly necessary to compress Mark Bowden's excellent book down into three hours. The score was instantly recognizable as one of Hans Zimmer's, and it's interesting to spot faces that Scott went on to use again, as he often does. This review comes from one of the few times I've been able to watch the movie. Its accuracy can make it hard viewing for anybody who's gone through anything of the sort, while Hollywood tripe tends to be comfortingly entertaining thank to its very unreality. For civilians, this gives you a taste of what it's like.

One leaves the theater breathless after seeing "Black Hawk Down". Now, with my new DVD in hand, I am pleased to be able to see this film whenever I like. This is, most simply put, the most grittily realistic and overpoweringly authentic and accurate depiction of modern combat imaginable. This is the closest we ordinary citizens can come to the actual experience, as we are sucked involuntarily into the terrifying vortex of the world of modern combat. We careen into combat with the young volunteers, our hearts pounding, the sweat pouring off us as we go, feeling our blood pressure rise as we rappel breathlessly down with them to the hard dusty ground! Of course, with Ridley Scott involved, one comes to expect such amazingly spellbinding theatrics, yet this movie threads quickly along the well-greased storyline provided in the best selling book, adding the sharp, quicksilver dimensions of reality only such a stunningly visual depiction can offer in addition. And, from the anxious hand tremors of a young trooper about to descend into the madness of a flurry of hostile gunfire to the knowing worried glances a special forces combatant exchanges with one of his men, this is a superbly acted, casted, and choreographed set of battle scenes. And the scenes go relentlessly on and on. Precious little time is wasted here providing the outlines of what turns out to be a mission from Hell; policy makers in Washington (read Secretary Albright here, trying to show she could out-testosterone the guys) decide this bunch of cravenly aggressive mercenary tribes can be corralled and democratized, that Somalia can become an instant shining example of our new-found powers of nation-making, and the American peace-keeping forces are suddenly tasked with missions for which they are ill-equipped. Without sufficient armor or enough reaction troop strength, the command orders a kidnap mission to eliminate one of the warlords who is most actively opposing the new "pie-in-the=sky" political objectives, and a small force of young troopers are dispatched in several helicopters to make a quick-strike raid into the heart of Mogadishu. Just as they have reached the point of accomplishing their mission, a helicopter is shot down, and all at once, hell breaks loose. Yet this is truly just the beginning. The story of how these men stood their ground, how exceedingly well they fought, and how savagely they staved off the vastly superior numbers of local opponents who were well armed and supplied is only now becoming the stuff of legend. The real question one is left with after seeing the movie (or after reading the wonderful book, as well) is how such a valiant and well-executed action could have ever been described by both our government and the press as a defeat. It is more a lesson in the extraordinary and shameful timidity of everyone in the chain of command, from Madeline Albright to Colin Powell to the Secretary of Defense on down, who refused the Battle Scene Commander the resources he requested, that literally doomed the mission once things began to go awry. Therefore, while we did unfortunately lose eighteen men, we also inflicted hundreds of casualties on the opposing forces, and finally were able to successfully evacuate the balance of the American forces after having engaged the street fighters for an incredibly extended period of time. This engagement and the kind of men who fought in it should be sung of in battle hymns, not decried as evidence of American softness or lack of a will to fight. As always, the fault in the action lies not in the ferocious young men who fought and died so courageously and so well, but in the despicable and all too-human failures of their leaders and their government to use them wisely, to take greater care in placing them so carelessly in harm's way. Simply put, this is a great film, easily one of the best war films ever produced, and one I can heartily recommend! Enjoy!

Great Movie

This is a fantastic movie. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The action sequences are some of the best ever put onto the big screen. The Army Rangers and Delta Force are brave and dedicated in their efforts to capture a violent warlord. The movie focuses entirely on a mission to capture the lieutenants of a violent warlord. It was hoped that their capture would provide new intelligence on the wherabouts of the warlord, which was the ultimate goal. When this incident occurred the President and the country had already lost interest in Somalia. This is reinforced in the movie from what we don't see- there are no cutaways to politicans and generals in some Pentagon command center debating the proper course of action. Instead General Garrison(Sam Shepherd) is reminded by a subordinate to keep Washington apprised. The movie takes place on the day leading up to the mission and the day itself. Shortly after the Rangers commence their well orchestrated operation things go badly awry. The commanders, coordinating events from blackhawk helicopters, rush to adapt as casualities mount. The sequences of soldiers confronting the Warlord's militia and an overwhelming number of hostile citizens are gripping. The actors give fine performances and no doubt received much technical training from military advisers. Eric Bana is superb as a seen it all Delta Force soldier who gives comfort to a less experienced Army Ranger Sgt. One oddity though is Tom Sizemore who plays Colonel McKnight. All of the soldiers (save for Sizemore)accurately follow proper Army technical training by using all available cover and crouching to give the smallest possible profile to the enemy. Tom Sizemore's character defies this obvious logic and instead stands fully erect and out in the open with his big frame as bullets are whizzing by? Perhaps he thought this movie was a remake of the Green Berets. This movie is apolitical. It entirely focuses on the actions of the soldiers as they attempt to make it back to the safety of their base despite being surrounded by overwhelming numbers. As for the polictical events which go unmentioned- many people have characterised the events in Somalia as a failure of U.S foreign policy and of the Clinton administration. But what is little known perhaps because of our limited collective memory is that the decision to send U.S. forces to this country was made by President George Bush Sr. not President Clinton. When President Clinton took office U.S. forces were already in this war torn East African country. As history goes both of these Presidents should receive critisism for our failed effort in this country. They should both receive critisism for taking their eye off the ball. One takeaway from this film - we, as a nation, are much better at initiating military campaigns successfully then we are at ending them in the same manner. Just as the movie Apollo 13 showed NASA personnel at there best when facing the crisis of Astronauts in peril this movie shows our armed forces at there best as they work to avoid an even greater tragedy. I would put Blackhawk Down in the top 15 war movies of all time.

To start off with, before or after seeing the movie, reading the book would be a huge plus because the book is incredibly good. It may well fill in any gaps or questions that were not addressed in the movie. Seeing the movie after reading the book, It was very apparent that the movie followed the book very closely and was excellently done. The movie does not delve into the politics of the U.S. in Somalia but it does give an introductory, although short, explanation why we were there and what we were trying to accomplish. Some reviewers have stated that we shouldn't have been there in the first place. Let's take a look - it was reported that 300,000 Somalian citizens had starved to death because their emergency food supplies (flown in by the U.S.) were taken away by Somalian warlords. The Somalian militias then attacked U.N. peacekeeping forces and rendered them just about useless. The United States was about the only nation left to go and render aid and assistance because no one else was going to do it. We had honest and just reasons to try to shut down the warlords and help a country that was harboring genocidal killers that were perpetrating vicious crimes against humanity. Being in the military myself for 14 years now, I can relate to what goes through a soldiers mind and why we in the military are asked to do certain things that the average citizens of our country cannot always relate to. It's not easy to explain, but we in the military are very proud and rely on honor, integrity, teamwork, and pride. We work very hard to protect our country, other countries, and those in the world who cannot protect themselves and who need our help. This is just one of the reasons that makes America great. In October of 1993, some 100 or so U.S. Military Forces comprised of the Army Rangers, Delta Force, and the Special Operations Aviation Regiment (S.O.A.R.) were tasked to extricate two key individuals in the warlord clan led by Mohammed Aidid to help stop the crimes against the Somalian people. This extrication was to take place in an extremely hostile area in the middle of the city of Mogadishu in broad daylight. According to initial planning, it was to be a 30 to 35 minute operation which ended up playing out to be a horrifying 16 to 18 hour ordeal. The reality at the onset was looking to be successful until two Blackhawk type helicopters were shot down using rocket propelled grenades (RPG's). The U.S. soldiers were immediately thrown into an environment of total chaos being that the Somalian militias were very heavily armed and attacked from every section of the city. Adding to the misery was that hundreds, if not thousands of Somalian citizens had weapons also and relentlessly attacked our soldiers for hours on end without hesitation. The U.S. soldiers, taking many disastrous casualties and injuries of their own, secured both helicopter crash scenes, fought all the way through with almost unheard of courage and determination, brought all of their wounded and dead out that they could, and showed more bravery and resolve than could ever be asked of anyone. Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer have long been involved in movies of non-stop action and heart pounding excitement. I don't see this movie as so much an action movie but compare it more to a documentary and an entirely realistic vision of what actually happened on that fateful day. I believe that the movie was exceptionally well made and showed exactly what needed to be showed. This was not a movie to be a forum for the politics of why we were there. The movie states why we were there and how the military was intimately involved. If there is anyone who questions our military or how good they really are or what sacrifices we have made in history for our country and other countries, this movie is indicative of why our country is the greatest with the greatest military. This is probably one of the 10 best war films ever made and I think it is important for U.S. citizens to really know what happened that day in Somalia to get a clear picture. I couldn't give this review 5 stars because of the poor content of the DVD release. There are trailers for 2 movies but neither are for Black Hawk Down. Not good. There is no directors commentary and no worthwhile featurettes. Why? In the age of digital sound and video, we are seeing much more of DTS sound on large amounts of DVD releases. The 5.1 Dolby surround on this movie was excellent but DTS would have been sensational and they should have considered this when making the DVD. I have a reasonably good suspicion that they will re-release this DVD with a load of extra's in the future and possibly DTS sound. It may be worth the wait. If you like war movies, especially those that are based on true events and very accurate, you will probably find Black Hawk Down to your liking. A small word of warning though. This movie depicts very graphic scenes of injuries and carnage and death. But, that is precisely how it should have been done so that the viewer can relate to what actually happened. I hope most of you will be able to appreciate this movie as much as I did.

Last night I saw this movie for the probably fifth time, and still I can't find any flaw in it, for me it is probably the best war movie ever made even though the story is about a relatively minor engagement in an already forgotten police action in a backwater country as Somalia. There are many strong characters but what stands out for me are the exchanges between the characters of Hoot(Eric Bana) and Eversman (Josh Harnett). Hoot is the quintescential warrior, a Delta Forces sargeant that has seen it all, he convines experience with talent and a strong intellect. Eversman is a young man thrown before his time to the burdens of command as his team leader suffers a seizure and cannot continue leading his chalk. The exchanges between these two characters for me are the main part of the movie. Hoot counsels the younger warrior, he demands focus and getting the mission done before letting anguish and guilt take over, his men need him in all his capacity. Eversman grows as a leader and a man as the combat progresses, at the begining he is willing to endager his team and mission to save a young member of his chalk but at the end he thinks and reacts more in the interest and welfare of the entire platoon. Hoots's charge through the middle of the city to reach (although late) the crash site of the second Black Hawk and then getting in time to save Eversman's team from a recoiless rifle team at the scene of the main crash site is probably the strongest part of the movie in the action/heroics department. The movie is about a small group of dedicated and highly trained US Special Forces and Rangers took on thousands of fanatical militias (who are also high on drugs and bloodlust) to uphold the creed that no body should be left behind after accomplishing a presumably worthwhile mission that in the end was poorly planned. It was the cammaraderie, training and ethos of these soldiers that ultimately saved the day. The battle of Mogadishu should be remenber by the sheer technical capacity and heroic selflesness that the US soldier is capable to bring to battle, I think this movie portrays and gives a fitting homage to these brave men. About the movie in itself the battle action puts you literally in the middle of the events, you can appreciate also the flaws on technology and chain of command decisions when the land convoy is shot to pieces while trying to reach the crash site due to lags in the relay of orders. The music was also very enjoyable. I especially liked the rendition of The Minstrel Boy as performed by The Mescaleros, I thought it was very appropriate for the end credits of this movie.

Great movie

Exelente filme. Dolby Atmos, som explosivo, com legendas e áudio em português nos 2 discos.

I love movie's based on true events and this one is really good at telling the story of the US army went through during there deployment to Somalia

Gran film e grande versione

Jesus María y José viene full español hispanoamericano awiwi gracias y mas mi teatro en casa Sony y mi ps5 bluray uffff diez de diez

The steelbook is great & the uncut version is only on the 4k disc apart from that a great film & lost of Action