BLACK HAWK DOWN REVIEW! (THROWBACK SERIES)

Initial release date: January 18, 2002

Studio: Sony-Columbia/Revolution Studios/Scott Free Productions/Jerry Bruckheimer Productions

Tagline: Leave No Man Behind

Plot: The film takes place in 1993 when the US sent special forces into Somalia to destabilize the government and bring food and humanitarian aid to the starving population. Using Black Hawk helicopters to lower the soldiers onto the ground, an unexpected attack by Somalian forces brings two of the helicopters down immediately. From there, the US soldiers must struggle to regain their balance while enduring heavy gunfire.

Cast

Josh Hartnett - Eversmann

Ewan McGregor - Grimes

Tom Sizemore - McKnight (R.I.P)

Eric Bana - Hoot

William Fichtner - Sanderson

Ewen Bremner - Nelson

Sam Shepard - Garrison

Gabriel Casseus - Jurth

Kim Coates - Wex

Hugh Dancy - Schmid

Ron Eldard - Durant

Ioan Gruffudd - Beales

Tom Gury - Yurek

Jason Isaacs - Steele

Jeremy Piven - Wolcott

Ty Burrell - Wilkinson

Orlando Bloom - Blackburn

Tom Hardy - Twombly

Writer: Ken Nolan (Only the Brave; Transformers: The Last Knight)

Mark Bowden (book)

Director: Ridley Scott (House of Gucci; The Last Duel; All the Money in the World)

Rated R for intense realistic graphic war violence, and for language (144 minutes)

The 2002 movie Black Hawk Down is probably one of director Ridley Scott's best films to date. And before I continue on with my quick take on the movie ... how the hell was 2002 21 years ago???!!! Damn I feel old lol ... ok moving on!

Black Hawk Down delivers quite a few thrilling moments and the action is simply incredible. The movie does a great job hooking you in until the final moments.

There are also quite a few scenes that are really powerful and some of the action can be realistically graphic, which is how a war movie should be. The action moments in the movie can be extremely intense and the scenes where the soldiers are trying to get from one point to another can be really tense as well!

Black Hawk Down is available on various PVOD rental services!

Here are some interesting tidbits for Black Hawk Down:

• Some of the radio chatter in the film was taken from actual radio transmissions made during the battle.

• The Black Hawk going down, spiraling as it crash lands, was achieved largely through real, skillful flying of the helicopter, with some CGI augmentation. The minute it hits the ground, however, the motors are CGI.

• On the last day of their week-long Army Rangers orientation at Fort Benning, the actors who played the Rangers received a letter that had been anonymously slipped under their door. The letter thanked them for all their hard work, and asked them to "tell our story true," signed with the names of the Rangers who died in the Mogadishu firefight.

• The set was constantly bothered by stray dogs running into shots. Ridley Scott kept them in because he liked the authentic feel of their presence. Eight dogs were adopted by various members of the production and were eventually brought back to the US with them.

• The sequences of events near the end of the film, where some of the US Rangers were forced to run unprotected behind the rescue convoy did indeed happen. This unfortunate turn of events was named by the soldiers after the battle as "The Mogadishu Mile."

• Some of the scenes on the monitors behind Major General Garrison are actual satellite images of the battle.

• According to "American Sniper" Chris Kyle, this film is shown to US Navy special forces recruits to inspire them before they begin the "Hell Week" stage of their SEAL training.

• Unlike Scott's previous 1997 film G.I. Jane, this production received the full cooperation of the US military.

• Mark Bowden, a staff reporter on the Philadelphia Inquirer, first detailed the disastrous 1993 Mogadishu raid in a serialized, 29 part story that appeared in the paper during November and December 1997. This was expanded into a book the following year.

• Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the powerful Somali warlord who was the raid's main target, died on August 2, 1996. Major General William Garrison retired from the army the next day.

• Black Hawk Down had a limited release in four theaters on December 28, 2001, in order to be eligible for the 2001 Oscar season. On January 18, 2002, the film had its wide release, opening at 3,101 theaters and earning $28.6 million in its first wide release weekend to finish first at the box office for the weekend.

• When the film ended its theatrical run on April 14, 2002, after its 15th week, it had grossed $108.6 million domestically and $64.3 million overseas for a worldwide total of $172 million.