Black Hawk Down

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amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write("<a href=javascript:popUp('http://buybox.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=reelmoviecriticc&link_code=xsc&creative=23424&camp=2025&path=/dt/assoc/tg/aa/xml/assoc/-/B000065U1N/reelmoviecriticc/ref=ac_bb1_,_amazon')><img src=http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/remote-buy-box/buy1.gif border=0 alt='Buy from Amazon.com' ></a>"); document.close(); </script> <noscript> <form method="POST" action="http://buybox.amazon.com/o/dt/assoc/handle-buy-box=B000065U1N"> <input type="hidden" name="asin.B000065U1N" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="tag-value" value="reelmoviecriticc"> <input type="hidden" name="tag_value" value="reelmoviecriticc"> <input type="image" name="submit.add-to-cart" value="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" alt="Buy from Amazon.com" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/add-to-cart.gif"> </form> </noscript>  </B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Black Hawk Down </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Wingdings 2" ><B>êêê</B></FONT><B>  </B> ( R ) </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By George O. Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="575"><div> Hunger is a weapon and killing is negotiation</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Sgt. Eversmann: Josh Hartnett</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Grimes: Ewan McGregor</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Cliff: Jeremy Piven</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Gen. Garrison: Sam Shepard</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Lt. McKnight: Tom Sizemore</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Director: Ridley Scott</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: Elite American soldiers who believe they are going into a battle expected to last for about 30 minutes because of superior skill, weapons and tactics, are shocked when it turns into an intense 15 hour struggle for survival. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Like <I><B>The Perfect Storm,</B></I> this story is based upon true events. The <I>Philadelphia Inquirer</I> did a series of articles on the <B>Battle of Mogadishu,</B> the longest sustained ground battle involving American soldiers since the Vietnam War. In 1993, an elite force of 120 American Delta units and Ranger infantry were dropped into Mogadishu to abduct two of Somalian warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid's lieutenants. Rather than a simple mission without casualties, against a ragtag army, two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. What was expected to take less than an hour lasted 15, resulting in the deaths of 18 Americans, 73 wounded and hundreds of Somalians dead. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Rules of Engagement</B></I> captured the essence of a battle gone wrong. The enemy knows the rules and they would shoot at you from a crowd of innocent civilians because they knew that you could not return fire unless it was from someone shooting <I>at</I> you. </div> <bR> <div> What the plot <I>is not</I> is a complex story, like <I>Saving Private Ryan</I> interspersed with intense battle scenes. Prior to the shooting, and there is plenty of it, the introduction of the characters is almost as hokey as the set up in <I><B>Pearl Harbor.</B></I> Fortunately, this section is fairly quick and before you know it the mission is underway and the "games" have begun. This is a movie for the guys, if ever there was one. Of the women in the film, they are few and far between other than an occasional faceless/nameless Somalian. The film holds your interest as it shows what one does when things are not going according to plan. Many of the battles are related not to the mission per se, but to the fact that no one is to be left behind, even if they are dead. </div> <bR> <div> We get up close and personal with the power of 50 caliber machine guns and rocket launchers to penetrate buildings and take state of the art fighting helicopters out of the air. There is plenty of action with stressful events such as a soldier picking up a severed hand and putting it into his pocket and first aid on the battlefield to stop the bleeding of a leg wound that could prove fatal. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: What I found most interesting about the film was that it brings to light how flaky our politicians can be. We were high and mighty when we thought we could remove the leaders causing the carnage of 300,000+ dead in a short period of time. Though the US won the battle, it was not without major casualties. Three weeks later the US was gone, and not until two years after that was Aidid killed and then it was in an accident. </div> <bR> <div> Hopefully events such as those of September 11, 2001 are not what is required for our government to have the courage to do the right thing. Being the leader of the free world should not mean being the world's policeman to every bully, but I wonder, just what are our responsibilities? We know that cancer can spread as can terrorism. It just might be that to keep the big battles from the shores of the United States, we have to take actions in smaller places that most Americans have never heard of so that the citizens of both countries, and other seemingly unrelated nations, benefit. No country should have to suffer terrorist attacks, be they large or small.</div> <bR> <div> <I>Black Hawk Down</I> is a great action movie that allows one to enjoy it for what it is. It also gives us something to think about beyond the limited focus of the men on the battlefield whose thoughts are in the right now time frame, to kill others so that they are not killed. That's important, but there is a bigger picture that we all need to see.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="621" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Rated R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> George O. Singleton © 2001</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>George@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Josh Hartnett: <I><B>O</B></I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Ewan McGregor: <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id1782.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id17"><U><I><B>Moulin Rouge</B></I></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Jeremy Piven: <I><B>Serendipity</B></I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Sam Shepard: <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id1776.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id17"><U><I><B>Swordfish</B></I></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Tom Sizemore: <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id1937.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2001/id19"><U><I><B>Pearl Harbor</B></I></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Ridley Scott: <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2000/id931.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/2000/id93"><U><I><B>Hannibal</B></I></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>