Black Hawk Down

English 100 Joseph Snellenberger

Jim McGarrah- Final paper 04/27/07

In August of 1993, American forces under General Garrison were sent to capture Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The resulting “mess” is what the basis of the movie Black Hawk Down was created under. As was said, the Title of the movie is Black Hawk Down, and it was directed by Ridley Scott, and was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The studio that filmed it was Columbia Tri-star, and a major amount of the film was shot in Morocco. It was released in 2001. The theme of the film is that of a gripping and nail-biting action film that keep’s viewers on the edge of their seats, one reason for that is because many main characters die, so you never know what’s going to happen next, or who’s going to die next! The plot is very interesting, and what’s amazing is that it’s really based on a true story, which is pretty cool, seeing as the true story makes an amazing story for a movie. It features Army Rangers, Navy Seals, and Delta force preparing to capture a Warlord and several of his higher ranking cabinet members. Everything is going fine until a Black Hawk is “downed” (which is how the movie got it’s name, obviously) and in the ensuing attempt to rescue the wounded men, American forces get bogged down, ambushed, and attacked heavily, and the amount of wounded continues to add up. After a grueling night of warfare with an entire city, it goes on to show the heroics of several of the main characters, and the eventual escape from the city. All in all, it makes an amazing plot, and when combined with such actors as Ewan McGregor (Grimsey, and Obi-Wan off Star Wars1-3), Josh Hartnett (the main character of the film), Tom Sizemore (Colonel McKnight, brings a calm to the battlefield), and Orlando Bloom (who is Todd Blackburn, who is featured as a go get’em new Ranger, eager to kill), makes an intriguing story-line.

The movie starts out introducing most of the characters, and giving you a general feel for who is going to be the “good” guy, and who’s going to be the bureaucratic pen-pusher that no one likes. At first it show’s Captain Mike Steele who is played by Jason Isaac’s, as a hardcore military man, not tolerating any back-talk, or any joking. He is seen reprimanding one of his men for mocking him (who happens to be the first man to die in the movie). Then shortly thereafter it introduces Sgt. Eversmann, who is the main character of the film. He is shown as an Idealist, and when asked whether he likes the “Skinny’s” or not, he say’s that he respects them, he is shown as a generally nice guy who cares deeply for his men. Bringing in a bit of comic relief is Grimsey and Nelson. Grimsey is a Ranger who had been behind a desk for the longest time, and somewhat reluctantly gets a chance for combat, he is able to make coffee no matter what the situation, which is shown when they are under siege in a building, and he makes a cup of coffee for a superior officer. Nelson is left behind with a fellow soldier, and is made deaf by gunfire to close to his head; he is shown for the rest of the film not understanding what anyone is saying to him. It introduces what in my opinion is one of the “badarses” of the film, Colonel McKnight. He leads the Humvee team that is ambushed and is seen going back after getting to safety. After introducing these characters, it goes into the