Black Hawk Down **** (2001, Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepard, Jason Isaacs, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Eric Bana, Ewen Bremner, Tom Hardy) – Classic Movie Review 648

Produced by the unexpected team of Jerry Bruckheimer and Ridley Scott, this 2001 double Oscar-winning fact-based drama film Black Hawk Down is based on the book by Mark Bowden.

In his pounding, heart-stopping, all-action 2001 war epic, Brit director Ridley Scott re-creates the 1993 disastrous military mission when 123 elite US soldiers were dropped into Somalia. Ordered to seize a warlord’s two right-hand men, they were embroiled in a bloody 24-hour battle with a huge force of well-armed Somalis.

Sam Shepard plays the major general, William Garrison, who tries to get his boys out, while the action centres on Josh Hartnett as the sergeant under fire. The gung-ho, one-sided film sees the battle solely from the US point of view, as men are trapped or have limbs blown off, and finally 19 US soldiers and more than 100 Somalia militiamen are left dead.

Despite its lack of distance, perspective and subtlety, this is an incredibly exciting, superbly visceral and totally scary combat movie that gives a true sense of the horrors of war. As Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann, Hartnett makes a sterling action-hero, all-American-boy good guy. However, Ewan McGregor is less comfortable as Spec Danny Grimes.

As ever with Scott, it is a great technical achievement. It won two Oscars for Best Film Editing (Pietro Scalia) and Best Sound (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga, Chris Munro), plus two more nominations for Best Cinematography (Slavomir Idziak) and Best Director.

The American Film Institute voted it their Movie of the Year as an unrelenting combat experience. They noted: ‘Leaving behind the traditional rules of the genre, the film immerses its audience in the cold reality of war. It arrives in theaters at a moment in American history which could not be more timely.’

Tom Hardy makes his film debut, aged 24, billed as Thomas Hardy, playing Twombly.

Jason Isaacs, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Eric Bana, Ewen Bremner, Ron Eldard, Charlie Hofheimer, Hugh Dancy, Zeljko Ivanek, Matthew Marsden, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Orlando Bloom, Ioan Gruffudd, Gabriel Casseus, Kim Coates, Tom Guiry, Danny Hoch and Jeremy Piven also star.

Also in the cast are Brian Van Holt, Steven Ford, Grgeory Sporleder, Johnny Strong, Glenn Morshower, Enrique Murciano, Tac Fitzgerald, Richard Tyson, Michael Roof, Kent Linville, Ian Virgo, Carmine Giovinazzo, Chris Beetem, Ty Burrell, George Harris, Razaaq Adoti, Treva Etienne, Jason Hildebrandt, Brendan Sexton III, Boyd Kestner, Pavel Voukan and Dan Woods.

It is written by Ken Nolan, scored by Hans Zimmer and designed by Arthur Max.

It runs 144 minutes, with 152 minutes in the extended edition.