Black Hawk Down (Blu-ray) (2001)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Audio Commentary-Mark Bowden (Author) and Ken Nolan (Screenwriter) Audio Commentary-Ridley Scott (Director) and Jerry Bruckheimer (Producer) Audio Commentary-"U.S. Special Forces Veterans '93" Featurette-Making Of-"The Essence Of Combat: Making Black Hawk Down"
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	144:19
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Ridley Scott
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Josh Hartnett Ewan McGregor Tom Sizemore Eric Bana William Fichtner Ewen Bremner Sam Shepard Gabriel Casseus Kim Coates Hugh Dancy Ron Eldard Ioan Gruffudd Tom Guiry
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Hans Zimmer

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Linear PCM 48/24 5.1 (4608Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Ridley Scott's absorbing and intense film, Black Hawk Down, was originally released on DVD back in 2002. The following year it was re-released on DVD, as a magnificent 3-disc Collector's Edition. Now, four years later, it appears again, but this time as an excellent Blu-ray BD-50 disc, which showcases the possibilities of High-Definition DVD.

    As I wrote a few years ago in my review of the Collector's Edition, Black Hawk Down is not the sort of film one enjoys, but rather, like Apocalypse Now, or Schindler's List, it is a film that one experiences. I recall feeling completely emotionally drained after my first viewing of this movie, and it still manages to pack a strong emotional punch, despite repeated viewings over the following six years.

    Following 1998's Saving Private Ryan, war films seemed to strive to capture the gritty reality of combat. This new era for war films was to feature images that were violent, unrelenting, bloody, horrific, disturbing, and chaotic. Now, awful and confronting scenes with severed limbs, spurting blood, and exposed intestines were to replace the sterile and romanticized images of the black-and-white war movies of yesterday. Indeed, in Black Hawk Down, the gore occasionally verges on seeming gratuitous, such as during the lengthy scene with an operation to clamp one of the soldier's arteries.

    "Leave No One Behind"

    This is the theme of the movie. Other films, such as Starship Troopers or We Were Soldiers have tried, with varying degrees of success, to get this point across, but this movie nails it. In my review of Band Of Brothers, I wrote how that brilliant series captured what seems to be the spirit of what it is to be a man in combat, a man whose life is dependent on the man beside him — the camaraderie and kinship of human beings thrust into an awful situation, with only each other to rely on. Black Hawk Down hammers home this sentiment, and that no one, no matter in what state, or in what predicament, is to be abandoned on the field of combat.

    Black Hawk Down has an interesting journey from the events that inspired it, to it becoming a big-screen film that grossed almost $US110 million at the Box Office. After countless interviews with veterans, Black Hawk Down began life as a syndicated novel in an online newspaper. Written by Mark Bowden, who also wrote the first draft of the script, the original enthralling novel can be found here:  http://inquirer.philly.com/packages/somalia/sitemap.asp

    Not a great deal of background information is provided in the film, but Black Hawk Down is based on an actual event: Following a bloody civil war, Somalia slipped into an unprecedented anarchy of death and destruction. Over three hundred thousand people died of starvation. Murder, rape, torture and/or theft touched every single family in Somalia. The war-torn capital, Mogadishu, degenerated into being considered the most dangerous place on the face of the Earth. One warlord, President Mohamed Farrah Aidid, declared war on the UN Peacekeepers, and his militia massacred (and mutilated) hundreds of foreign UN soldiers and care workers. In response, President Clinton sent the US Army Rangers and the elite Delta Force to Somalia, to capture Aidid, and to help restore order.

    It is into this lawless environment, in October 1993, that a US task force is dropped into central Mogadishu, by helicopter, for what was supposed to be a 30-minute raid. A number of key Aidid lieutenants are meeting, and the task force is to "arrest" (read "kidnap") them. However, a Black Hawk helicopter is shot down, and all hell breaks lose. What became known as the Battle of Mogadishu begins, and it was to become the US Army's largest and fiercest ground engagement since the Vietnam War (and that includes the original Gulf War). Hopelessly outnumbered and surrounded in this hostile terrain, the US soldiers must fight from house to house, and from street to street, to survive, and ensure that no one is left behind.

    Black Hawk Down opens with a quote by Plato: "Only the dead have seen the end of war". This cynical, yet realistic, approach avoids cheesy flag-waving or speechmaking. There is no traditional plot to this movie, rather it attempts to portray a series of horrifying events, as they happened. Black Hawk Down never attempts to analyse what happened in Somalia, but rather, it is solely concerned in presenting the 24 hours of hell that killed 18 United States servicemen, and injured 70 others, while mounting a Somalian body count that easily numbered in the hundreds. From any point of view, the US raid was a catastrophe, but Black Hawk Down is not about politics, it's about combat. As one of the soldiers says in regards to the politics, "none of that matters once the first bullet whizzes past your head".

    Due to the nature of the film's narrative, there is very little character development. Based on real people, a variety of characters are presented, from the idealistic to the gung-ho. They're sometimes scared, sometimes hurting, and then there are those who rise above the intense hell that they find themselves in to inspire others. This sort of tightly-scripted, ensemble piece requires a good cast, and Black Hawk Down delivers: The international cast includes Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepard, William Fichtner, Jason Isaacs, Ron Eldard and Orlando Bloom.

    Black Hawk Down is helmed by one of my favourite directors, Sir Ridley Scott, who time and time again takes scripts and lifts them into being art as film. For example, without his vision and craft, movies such as Alien or Hannibal could easily have ended up as being merely B-Grade schlock horror films. Other movies such as Gladiator, Kingdom Of Heaven, and Blade Runner have become some of my most played DVDs. Like his brother, fellow director Tony Scott (Spy Game, Crimson Tide, Top Gun, Man On Fire, Domino), Ridley injects a lot of atmosphere into his movies — swirling dust, turning fans, flags flapping in the breeze. Black Hawk Down is dripping with atmosphere, and one can't help but feel immersed.

    However, when it comes to behind-the-camera talent, Ridley is not alone here. He is joined by a gifted crew, including brilliant, Academy Award nominated DOP, Slavomir Idziak, and the very talented, Academy Award winning editor, Pietro Scalia. Indeed, in 2001, Black Hawk Down picked up two Oscars, for editing and sound. Black Hawk Down also features the work of my favourite film composer, Hans Zimmer. Again Zimmer works his composing magic here, and I'll cover this aspect further in the Score section below. Finally, the movie has been produced by one of my favourite film producers. In some film-critic circles, it very un-cool to admit to liking Jerry Bruckheimer's work, but I love many of his films, including Flashdance, Beverley Hills Cop, Top Gun, The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

    Black Hawk Down's official web-site can be found at www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/blackhawkdown/

Video

    Following Click, this is Sony Pictures Digital Authoring Centre's second BD-50 Blu-ray disc to be released, and the transfer is excellent. It has been mastered in 1920 x 1080p, using MPEG-2 compression.

    To capture the gritty realism of a war film, the original Super 35 print is intentionally very grainy, with a muted colour palette. The transfer accurately reflects the original print, and is noticeably sharper and more detailed than the previous SD DVD.

    The transfer is beautifully presented in a High Definition, widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1, in a native 16x9 frame. This is the film's original theatrical ratio.

    I described the sharpness of the SD DVD's image as "breath-taking", yet the BD manages to raise the bar. For example, consider the detailed aerial shot of the town at 29:42, or the satellite photographic map at 33:29. The black level is excellent with true deep blacks, but the shadow detail is intentionally limited due to the harsh lighting, and high-contrast image. For example, often the black faces have very limited detail. Again, this is an artistic choice, and an accurate reflection of the original print.

    As noted earlier, the colour palette is intentionally muted, and often has a washed-out, yellow or greenish tinge. The skin tones are accurate.

    The average bit rate of the SD DVD was a very healthy 7 megabits per second. Here, it sits at about four times as much, with an average of 28 Mbps. As you can imagine, there are no noticeable problems with MPEG or film-to-video artefacts.

    It appears that the same source print was used for this transfer as was used with the original DVD releases, as the same film artefacts appear throughout. These are mostly pin-prick sized white or black flecks, and almost impossible to spot. For example, at 37:02, if one looks very closely at the right of the screen (on the right of the boy), one will see a brief flicker of three tiny white flecks which are in the source material.

    Subtitles are included in ten languages, and the English ones are accurate.

    This is a BD-50 disc. The feature is divided into 16 chapters.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio is simply magnificent! The uncompressed Linear PCM 5.1 audio is one of the best home-theatre sound experiences I have enjoyed on either High-Definition format. It certainly also helps that the film's original sound design is brilliant. After all, it did win the Academy Award for Best Sound in 2001.

    Originally released theatrically in Dolby Digital 5.1, dts, and SDDS, the feature offers three audio options: An  immersive English uncompressed Linear PCM 5.1 (4.6 Mbps) audio track; and there are also English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps) audio options as well. The three audio commentaries are provided with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio (192 kbps).

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent, but obviously some of the dialogue is delivered through the crackle of radios, and other dialogue in the heat of battle. We share the characters' frustration and confusion, as some of what is said is drowned out through pounding gun-fire, and even by battle-deafness in the case of one character.

    The musical score is credited to one of my favourite film composers, Hans Zimmer, who again has crafted a beautiful and exotic score. Zimmer's music not only manages to heighten the on-screen emotion, but it also transports us to war-torn Somalia. Zimmer's evocative and ethnic-flavoured scores, for films such as MI2, Gladiator, Tears of the Sun, and Batman Begins, have really made an incredible impact on my viewing experience and enjoyment of these films.

    As with the previous DVD releases, the surround presence and activity is simply awesome. The wonderfully immersive sound-stage features a great deal of rear directional effects, and the rears burst to life in the cacophony of the battle scenes, for example the fire-fights at 44:59 at 67:03. The score also effectively snakes through the rears, such as at 117:37. There is also a great deal of panning between speakers, and clever use of directional effects. What is different here is the clarity and range of the surround sound experience with the uncompressed Linear PCM 5.1 audio. For example, I had never previously noticed the hint of an eerie singing human voice that is occasionally imbedded in the sound of the wind in the movie. For example, it can be faintly heard in the rears at 99:05.

    As one would expect with any modern war film, this is a LFE-heavy audio track. From the rumbling of tanks and armoured cars, to deafening explosions, the subwoofer is used very extensively and effectively throughout.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    If you are more interested in the Extras, then the 3-disc Collector's Edition is superior, but some of those genuine and fascinating extras, that really added to my enjoyment and appreciation of the film, have been included here. Unless stated otherwise, all extras are presented in standard definition, and in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Menus

    All menus on all three discs are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9. They are animated with audio.

Audio Commentary 1

    Mark Bowden (Author) and Ken Nolan (Screenwriter) discuss the history of the book and script, and the difficulties of presenting this story cohesively on-screen.

Audio Commentary 2

    In an interesting commentary, Ridley Scott (Director) and Jerry Bruckheimer (Producer) discuss the background of the Somalian situation, and some of the challenges of filming this story. Scott also makes a number of poignant observations about the movie and its characters throughout.

Audio Commentary 3

    Four "U.S. Special Forces Veterans '93", including Tom Mathews, Ret. Col. US Army, discuss both the original event, and their reaction to the movie. It seems that the movie was very faithful to the actual events, and to the look and feel of Somalia.

Featurette —The Essence Of Combat: Making Black Hawk Down 

This a very comprehensive featurette, that runs longer than the film itself. It is divided into six chapters:

• Getting It Right (23:22)
  A look at the story and characters of the movie. This extra features archival news footage, and interviews with Mark Bowden. Bowden discusses his research for the book, and the genesis of the script.

• Crash Course (29:57)
  A look at the boot camp that the actors attended, so that they could give the appearance of being well-trained, elite soldiers.

• Battlefield Morocco (30:03)
  Ridley Scott shot his previous movie, Gladiator, in Morocco, and he explains why he returned for this movie as well. It appears that many international productions are shot here, and the local film industry provides many (cheap) well trained staff.

• Hymn to the Fallen (17:58)
  Composer, Hans Zimmer, discusses the two styles of music he used to present the two warring 'tribes' in the story.

• Digital Warriors (23:10)
  I was genuinely shocked by the extensive use of CGI in this movie. Unlike some other films, such as Star Wars Episode II, the use of CGI is subtle and seamless.

• After Action Report (24:59)
  Veterans (and some cast/crew) discuss and reflect on the events of October 1993, and the effect it had on their lives.

Blu-Wizard

    This allows viewers to create their own user-selected menu of the extras, and customise the way they watch it. On this disc, only the six chapters of The Essence of Combat featurette are offered. I understand that the idea behind Blu-Wizard, similar to HD DVD's U-Control, is to allow viewers the ability to decide how they wish to view the Extras, for example, viewers might want to watch the Extras at relevant moments during the film, as an extension of the movie itself, similar to DVD's branching featurettes.

    Black Hawk Down was released on Blu-ray in Region A (North America) in November 2006. In terms of content, our disc's are identical. Indeed, both our discs are zoned for all Regions (A, B, and C). Black Hawk Down will not be released on HD DVD.

    Two issues to consider, however, is that this version misses out on a number of the extras included in the SD DVD, 3-disc Collector's Edition. Also, an Extended Edition was released on SD DVD in R1.

    That noted, after viewing this film in High Definition, with uncompressed Linear PCM 5.1 audio, I cannot go back to watching the SD DVD.

    Along with films such as Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, The Longest Day, and A Bridge Too Far, this is quite simply one of the very best war movies ever made depicting modern warfare. The gritty realism is disturbing, and the intense and relentless action will leave you without sleep. If you are already a fan of this movie, and Blu-ray capable, then I encourage you to grab this edition without hesitation.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is also excellent.

    The extras are meaty and genuine.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall