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Dom Robinson reviews
Columbia TriStar
- Buy from
- Cert:
- Cat.no: CDR 32708
- Running time: 138 minutes
- Year: 2001
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 28 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English, Dutch, Hindi
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 2 * DVD 9
- Price: £24.99
- Extras: 8 deleted/alternate scenes, 6 “Essence of combat” featurettes,7 “image and design” featurettes including Jerry Bruckheimer’s on-setphotography, Filmmakers and cast biographies, Weblink.Three Audio commentaries
Director:
- Ridley Scott
(1492: Conquest of Paradise, Alien, Black Rain, BladeRunner, G.I. Jane, Gladiator, Legend, Thelma and Louise, White Squall)
Producers:
- Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer
Screenplay:
- Ken Nolan
Music:
- Hans Zimmer
Cast:
- Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann: Josh Hartnett
Delta Sgt. 1st Class Norm “Hoot” Hooten: Eric Bana
Delta Lt. Col. Danny McKnight: Tom Sizemore
Specialist Danny Grimes: Ewan McGregor
Major General William Garrison: Sam Shepard
Delta Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Sanderson: William Fichtner
Captain Mike Steele: Jason Isaacs
Specialist Shawn Nelson: Ewen Bremner
Specialist Lance Twombly: Thomas Hardy
Corp. Jamie Smith: Charlie Hofheimer
Staff Sgt. Ed Yurek: Thomas Guiry
Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant: Ron Eldard
Delta Lt. Col. Gary Harrell: Zeljko Ivanek
Specialist Dale Sizemore: Matthew Marsden
Pvt. 1st Class Todd Blackburn: Orlando Bloom
2nd Lt. John Beales: Ioan Gruffudd
Black Hawk Downis what happens during a dangerous mission in Somalia while trying to toppledictator Mohammad Farrah Aidid, beginning with seizing his lieutenants. In thisfilm, based on a true story, one man is lost while touching down originally,as a chopper tries to evade a rocket-launcher, then there’s the aforementionedBlack Hawk down as another chopped takes a dive; and then a roadblock forground crew making their way to the crash site including Delta Lt. Col. DannyMcKnight (Tom Sizemore).
That’s just the start of the mens’ problems as the rescue mission goesfrom bad to worse and the townsfolk wreak their vengeance on the soldiersand their transport. However, it is a little bit slow to get going and clichedin parts, such as when one man doesn’t take his back-protection armour youknow he’ll be the first to get taken from behind and that two of the soldiersapparently left behind will make it back okay, as will the usually desk-boundSpecialist Danny Grimes (Ewan McGregor). There’s also the obligatory’bad good guy’, aka Delta Lt. Col. Gary Harrell(24‘s Andre Drazen,Zeljko Ivanek), who doesn’t really seem to care about the men with hiscarefree behaviour.
To continue the downside, there’s a few too many big name stars who areunderused, leading to there being no defining background to each of the principalcharacters as there was in, say, Memphis Belle, so you don’t really care wholives and who dies. Sam Shepard doesn’t have much to do but stay backat base and look all concerned at the monitors in front of him, JoshHartnett is simply uncharismatic throughout and McGregor’s American accentis laughable.
What starts with promise does become repetitive rather too soon and you startto get bored, especially with the long running time.
Columbia should be proud of a fine transfer. Like the Jet Li flick,The One,the picture is presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen ratio with acolourful and crystal clear look to it, no motion artifacts at all and boldtextures throughout. Occasionally, Ridley Scott uses similar filming techniquetoSaving Private Ryan.
The sound comes in Dolby Digital 5.1, is well used for all the action scenesand certainly something to shout about if you want to show your system off toyour friends.
The extras begins with straight-forward Filmographies for the cast andcrew on disc one, then the second contains The Essence of Combat: MakingBlack Hawk Down, six featurettes about story and characters, militaryorientation, on location footage, the film score, visual effects and finalthoughts. This has a total running time of 151 minutes, so even longer thanthe film itself.
Then comes a further featurette about the making of the film starting withDesigning Mogadishu (13 mins), scores of prints in the ProductionDesign Archive, Storyboards with optional commentary, Ridleygramswhich are further storyboards, again with optional commentary, JerryBruckheimer’s BHD photo album (5 mins) which he talks over, various otherPhoto Galleries and Title Design Explorations, again withoptional commentary. There must be everything you’d need to know about thefilm here for those who are interested, which isn’t really me.
Eight Deleted Scenes, all with optional commentary from Scott, areincluded, such as a narrated opening, extra footage of Corrie’s MatthewMarsden looking even more determined to get that cast off his arm andan alternative ending, even though the one they went with reminded me of thatused in the Michael J Fox comedy The Hard Way.
Finally, there are three audio commentaries on disc one. One from directorScott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, one from author Mark Bowdenand screenwriter Ken Nolan, plus a third from the US Special ForcesVeterans of ’93.
There are 28 chapters to the film, the subtitles are in three languages(English – with extra subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, Dutchand Columbia’s favourite, Hindi – I say that because no other company seems tobother, although Warner have an affinity for Arabic). Dutch is also used forthe subtitled commentaries as with some of the other extras but not a whiff ofthose are in English (Why, Columbia, Why?? You always avoid English subtitlesin your extras!!). Also, the main menu features sombre music and clips fromthe film.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.