The story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large ... Read allThe story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.The story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.
- Won 2 Oscars
- 11 wins & 37 nominations total
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSome of the radio chatter in the film was taken from actual radio transmissions made during the battle.
- GoofsWhen a Ranger throws out a frag grenade, Sgt. Eversman warns his men by yelling "Grenade!" Proper designation would be to yell "Frag out!" as yelling "Grenade!" warns the men of an incoming grenade, not an outgoing one.
- Quotes
"Hoot": When I go home people'll ask me, "Hey Hoot, why do you do it man? What, you some kinda war junkie?" You know what I'll say? I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand that it's about the men next to you, and that's it. That's all it is.
- Crazy creditsThe film begins with the words "Based on an Actual Event", followed by the quote from Plato, which leads into the informative prologue with the scenes set in Somalia, East Africa, 1992. The prologue ends with the opening title.
- Alternate versionsA longer version of the scene where Sanderson inspects Grime's foot was filmed, but cut. Sanderson finds a piece of shrapnel lodged in Grime's foot, but he didn't feel it cause it cauterized on impact.
- ConnectionsEdited into G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
- SoundtracksTall King Dub
Written by Raz Mesinai
Performed by Badawi
Courtesy of Reachout International Records, Inc. (R.O.I.R.)
By arrangement with Ocean Park Music Group
The reasons for why the US found itself there are presented in terse fashion, the historical component being largely set up in the opening few minutes of the film, including on-screen comments explaining the situation leading up to the loss of American lives. After this point though, what we get is a highly stylized "get to know the characters" session, with a lot of male bonding and competitive angst between Army Rangers and Delta Force team members. After thirty or fourty minutes, I feared the worst for "Blackhawk Down", it was looking like, despite Ridley Scott's involvement, it might seriously fall victim to the typical Bruckheimer shlock element seen in Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, etc. I just didn't need the fluff, the male bonding-Top Gun testosterone crap. What would have been good is a serious treatment of the political blunders and foreign policy conundrum that led up to the events. But then, just when I let out a sigh, the fighting scenes kicked in and, almost as if the makers of BlackHawk Down knew it was precisely the right time to shift gears, I get swept up in the action. If you've seen Private Ryan, you have some idea of what level of graphic violence Blackhawk down presents. This film banks on its audience desiring action over answers, death of documentary, and it delivers. Scott's direction, as usual, is fantastic. But again, this is a film that serves as a catalyst for a war movie, the sad truth is that it really didn't matter what the historical reasons are that created the context for Blackhawk Down. Blackhawk down's war scenes could have been from any of a number of wars past and present. Obviously, it does bring back into focus the tragedy that befell our American troops in Somalia a decade ago. And the timing, of course, couldn't have been better. But we really don't learn much about the real behind the scenes story of what went on back in DC, and the aftermath of the tragedy. Now that I've seen the bloody but stylized battles of "Blackhawk Down", I'm hoping to see a quality documentary on this tragedy.
- ebert_jr
- Jan 20, 2002
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
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- Also known as
- Diều Hâu Gãy Cánh
- Filming locations
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $92,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $108,638,745
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $179,823
- Dec 30, 2001
- Gross worldwide
- $172,989,651
- Runtime2 hours 24 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1