Black Hawk Down

Riding shotgun through an infamously botched 1993 military mission in urban Somalia, Ridley Scott's dusty, bloody, sometimes agonizing Black Hawk Down provides a realistic, cinematically astute taste of war (it nabbed an Oscar for editing), without the kind of nerve-wracking hyper-authenticity that makes you feel as if you might get shot while watching it. Employing amazingly crisp, handsome aerial cinematography and a distinctive color palette to artistically enhance the ambiance of battle commotion, the style here tends to overshadow the character development of actors Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepard, and Tom Sizemore, among others, but the film does capture a collective sense of the soldiers' frustration, dedication, fear, grief, and above all, heroism in the face of impossible odds. However, because Scott puts so much emphasis on said heroism, some viewers may well mistake this film for a pure flag-waver instead of what it truly is: a condemnation of war that still honors the warriors themselves. Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)[DVD Review--July 15, 2003--Columbia TriStar, 3 discs, 144 min., R, $39.95--Originally issued in a modest edition in 2002, Black Hawk Down is now available in a triple-disc set that not only establishes a new gold standard for special, collector, and deluxe edition DVDs, but also fulfills the format's early promise of marrying fine films with relevant and insightful supplementary material like no other major release to date. Disc one serves up a gorgeous anamorphic widescreen transfer backed with a state-of-the-art Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack (BHD took home a well-deserved Oscar for Best Sound) and three excellent commentary tracks: Ridley Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, author Mark Bowden and screenwriter Ken Nolan, and a group of Task Force Ranger Veterans (who separate the facts from the fiction). Disc two features the 151-minute long "The Making of Black Hawk Down" (also divided into six standalone featurettes), a 38-minute long "Image & Design" section (anchored by the 15-minute "Designing Mogadishu" segment), and 20 minutes worth of deleted and alternative scenes (including a different ending). Disc three adds two excellent documentaries (A&E's 93-minute The True Story of Black Hawk Down [VL-7/02], and PBS's 55-minute Frontline episode Ambush at Mogadishu), an interactive mission timeline, a target-building-insertion multi-angle sequence, three interview sessions (33 minutes total), promotional materials, and a music video. Bottom line: a dynamite extras package for one of 2001's best films.][DVD Review--July 13, 2004--Columbia TriStar, 144 min., R, $26.95--Making its third appearance on DVD (after the barebones original release and the bar-raising triple-disc deluxe edition), Black Hawk Down: Superbit Edition theoretically boasts improved visual image and audio (thanks to the Superbit process's higher bit rate for recording), but the difference is virtually indistinguishable (at least on our 57-inch widescreen set) on this extra-less release. Bottom line: given the fact that the triple-disc Black Hawk Down: Deluxe Edition set new standards for a boxed set for a contemporary feature film, we highly recommend that version over this one.][DVD Review—May 30, 2006—Sony, 152 min., not rated, $19.95—Making its fourth appearance on DVD, 2002's Black Hawk Down (Extended Cut) boasts an excellent transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. This latest release includes an additional seven minutes of extended footage incorporated into the film, and the 55-minute Frontline episode Ambush in Mogadishu. Bottom line: a fourth time to the well seems a bit much, especially when the three-disc deluxe edition (which includes the deleted footage and the Frontline doc) raised the bar for special editions.]