Black Hawk Down

Let’s battle some previews first. MR. DEEDS–As much as I sometimes like Adam Sandler (and he is really funny off and on), I kind of resent the fact that he’s using a classic Capra film to further his career. He’s not my first choice to replace Gary Cooper and, while the movie looks kind of funny (and has Winona Ryder who stole my heart a long time ago) I don’t like the fact that Adam’s character has a frost bitten foot that has no feeling in it. Although it is kind of fun to watch John Turturro beat on Adam’s leg with a fireplace poker.

8 MILES–I have to admit, I want to see this movie. Yeah, it’s the “Eminem movie,” but it looks like it’s going to be more than that. It won’t turn out to be Cool As Ice because a)say what you like, but Em does have some talent and b) it’s directed by Curtis Hanson, director of such modern day classics as L.A. Confidential and The Wonder Boys. How did that happen?, you may ask. Well, I don’t know, but I’m glad it did.

Oh, and one more reason it won’t be as bad as all that, it’s a drama. Like, a real drama. It’s about life on the streets, not some wannabe hipster who burns into town looking for tunes and some quick sex. It’s actually about Eminem’s hometown of Detroit and the 8 mile stretch of road that separates the white poor folks from the black poor folks and the violence that happens there.

I’m not saying it’s going to be a masterpiece, but it will at least be worth a look. Maybe even if you don’t like Eminem or rap. You gotta like Curtis Hanson.

MINORITY REPORT–So Tom Cruise moves from Kubrick to a man who made a Kubrick movie. Spielberg’s new one has something to do with a future police force that act on a crime before it’s committed. When one of their own (Tommy) is hunted, hilarity ensues.

Actually, seeing as how this is a Spielberg flick I’m really excited about it. It looks great. Too bad about that Tom Cruise shaped growth on the film, though.

BAD COMPANY–Who gave one of our greatest living actors (Sir Anthony Hopkins) permission to choose a Jerry Bruckheimer/Joel Schumacher flick to sully his reputation with? And who thought it would be a good idea to pair him with Chris Rock?! Now, I like Chris and all, but he’s not a very good actor and, in fact, he’s usually kind of annoying in movies. (Nurse Betty not withstanding.) This looks like a really dumb action flick about Chris posing as his twin brother who was killed while working for the CIA. Hopkins brings Chris in to keep the spy game going even though Chris is a street hustler who seems to have no real conscience. This is gonna suck.

We may have lost the previews, but we will win the review!

(Ok. That was really lame. I apologize. The writer of that last “quip” has been sacked.)

Why are we so preoccupied with war films? What is it about the average American (if there really is one) that makes us all want to see what war is all about? Maybe it’s because it’s something that about 75% of us (thank God) will never truly understand. We’ll never know what it’s like to lay our lives on the line. To trust those lives to a group of guys who, until about six months to a year ago, were complete strangers, but are now our best friends in the entire world. Or to see those best friends get their body parts blown off all for a “cause” that we don’t really understand.

That is part of what movies like Black Hawk Down are trying to help us with. This time, though, it’s not about WWII or Vietnam or even something so well known as the Korean War. This time it’s the invasion of Somalia in 1993, something that a lot of us had forgotten about. Specifically it’s about one particular day in that invasion.

A group of Rangers and Delta company men were supposed to go into a market in Mogadishu to capture two of the evil warlord’s men. It was supposed to take half an hour, an hour tops.

Fifteen hours later we had lost 18 men and most of the rest were wounded.

This is one of those movies that’s kind of hard to review. Like The Thin Red Line it seems to be less about the characters than it is the feelings that the filmmakers have on war. But, like Saving Private Ryan, it’s also about the brutality of the war and the blood that runs the ground. In fact, I’ve read one review that compared it to the last battle scene of that film. Rolling Stone said that it was like that scene for two hours with no let up and that was the downfall of the film.

I’m not sure that I agree with that. The real downfall is the fact that we don’t get to know anyone. I just told you pretty much the whole story without giving you any character details at all. And you almost don’t need any. But, for the star watchers out there, I’ll try to name a few people.

Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett, who seems to be everywhere these days) is the second in command of the Rangers. He and his men (actually led by Master Sergeant Paul Howe (William Fitchner)–I’ll never understand ranks and leadership in the military) go into the town in humvees in order to take the men they need and get out. Company Clerk John Grimes (Ewan McGregor, who is not too good with the American accent this time out) is a typist who has never seen battle because he can type. (I guess I’ll get lucky if I ever get called up.) He says he’s pissed about that, but when he gets the chance to go he’s scared shitless. Lt. Colonel Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore) is the man who goes back more often than anyone else to get his men out. He and his humvees drive around the town for hours trying to get to the downed helicopters of the title only to be thwarted at every turn.

The Deltas in the Black Hawks are sent mainly for coverage. But, when Private 1st Class Todd Blackburn (Orlando Bloom in his first real non-elven role) falls out of one of the helicopters, they have to come in to rescue him. Chief Warrant Officer Cliff Wolcott (Jeremy Piven playing his same funny as hell character) is piloting the first one to go down and start all of the hell.

Back at home base is Major General William Garrison (Sam Shepard almost looking like Craig T. Nelson) who has the unenviable task of telling the boys in the field that help can’t get to them for hours.

Ridley Scott films the battle scenes with his usual masterful hand (and his usual buttload of smoke and fog). There were times that, just like in Private Ryan, I thought I was really there. But, because of the distance of the characters, I still felt like I was in a movie theatre watching the bullets fly. (Am I contradicting myself? Oh well. You figure it out. My feelings contradicted themselves.)

All of the actors did a fine job, but no one really stood out. (And do all soldiers have Texas accents? AND do they all have young, boyish faces? After a while they all started to look alike…one more thing to distance you from any of the characters.) But watch for Ewan Bremner (Spud from Trainspotting), Eric Bana (who is stepping into Bill Bixby’s shoes as Dr. Bruce Banner in Ang Lee’s version of The Hulk…more prepositions, please!) and Tom Guiry (from the 1994 version of Lassie, The Sandlot and Tigerland–I worked at Cockbuster Video for too long if I know this guy’s name).

I said before that the movie seemed like it wanted us to know the feelings of the filmmakers more than the characters. That’s true, but it took a while to really get to those feelings. At first I didn’t get a sense of anything. But, by the end I knew that Ridley and the boys think that we shouldn’t have been over there. (There’s a very literal shot of Sam Shepard wiping up the blood of the young men that he sent into hell. Very simple and obvious, but I’ve never seen it on screen before. It was one of the better anti-war moments in the film.) What do I think? Well, that’s hard to say. America has made it a habit of getting into fights that aren’t ours and it’s gotten us in a lot of trouble. (Recent events included.) But we are also the most powerful nation in the world. It’s maybe part of our duty to help out when we’re needed. But how do we tell who the good guys are? That’s the real question. Sometimes it’s easy, but sometimes it’s impossible to choose the right one.

And I think some of the more “patriotic” of us out here are going to be a little disappointed to hear the line I mis-quoted horribly above. Those guys are sent out there to do a job. They’re fighting for themselves and their buddies. They could usually give a fuck about us back home unless we’re related to them. But for the hours that they’re under fire even those closest to them take a back seat and they would probably sell their own mothers out to get them out of the hell they’re in. I don’t blame them. As much as some people don’t want to hear that, screw you, it’s true. Put yourself in their shoes. On second thought, don’t. I don’t wish that on anybody.

So, did I actually like this movie? Yes, I did. Was it the greatest war movie ever, as some critics are hailing it as? No, not at all. It was a very good movie and should be seen but for the greatest ever, go rent Private Ryan again. Or even The Longest Day or Platoon.

I guess I was just a little disappointed that it was kind of a popcorn movie. A very good one, but a popcorn movie all the same. Not nearly as disturbing as I had been lead to believe.