Black Hawk Down, and Lost Command on DVD

Ridley Scott's followup to his multi-Oscar winning Gladiator is a timely tribute to America's men in uniform. And this is pleasantly surprising, coming as it does from liberal Hollywood.

Based on a true event while the US was participating in UN-sanctioned actions in Somalia during the early 1990's, it's the tale of a group of soldiers on duty in Mogadishu whose supposed half hour mission to capture some high ranking aides to warlord Muhammed Farrah Aidid goes hopelessly wrong after two of their Blackhawk helicopters are shot down.

The soldiers are stranded in the hostile streets, forced to fend for themselves against Aidid supporters armed with a pretty good selection of deadly ordnance - and who are fighting to the death for a cause in which they (rightly or wrongly, and the filmmakers take no sides) believe.

The film is based on author Mark Bowden's book, and director Scott's riveting film features a sharp ensemble cast performing in some very authentic battle sequences that, if it weren't for their obviousl production values and Hollywood stars, almost feels like a documentary. This isn't surprising; Scott's movies are generally very rich and textured visually and aurally, and Black Hawk Down puts us right into the action and makes us want to duck for cover along with the US servicemen.

The ordeal stretches through the night, with relief finally coming early the next day - but not before some twenty soldiers were lost in the action. Historically, this event went a long way toward helping the mainstream media talk the weakling president Bill Clinton into pulling out of Somalia.

Fortunately, Black Hawk Down makes no overt political statements and instead is a first rate action/war movie that, rather than extensively rewriting history or moralizing, keeps the audience on the edge of its seat while showing the kind of heroism professional soldiers generally display when duty calls them into harm's way.

In the end, we have an extremely well-crafted, state-of-the-art movie that's truly frightening to behold. Events unfold so quickly it's hard to keep track at times, which is undoubtedly just how it felt to those in action.

Josh Harnett leads a journeyman cast that also includes Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner and Sam Shepard. And, contrary to Hollywood's usual attempt to graft an unnecessary love interest onto the story to ensure that women show up in the theater, Black Hawk Down (except for one very short scene) eschews "the fairer sex" and concentrates, more accurately, on the men involved and the camaraderie they share that helps them get through the coming ordeal. A very welcome and unexpected touch.

The DVD does the movie justice, too, with a razor sharp and richly colored picture that's presented in digitally mastered (in HD) anamorphic widescreen (16x9 TV compatible). The picture just about leaps right off of the home theater screen, which is exactly as it should be.

Likewise the audio is terrific. Though it's only offered in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround (no DTS option is available), the audio quality is first rate. The helicopters surround you as they swoop across the skies of Somalia, and the various pieces ordnance not only zip around the room (making you want to keep your head down) but thump in your chest depending on the caliber of the rounds being fired. Not only that but while some of the dialogue is hard to hear thanks to all the background noise emanating from the urban mayhem, it's generally very crisp and clean.

There aren't a lot of extras, though (watch for a special edition down the road). You do get a twenty-four minute (or so) documentary on the making of the film and it's a fascinating look not only at the movie itself but at the rationale behind many of the production decisions and also the real people who do these heroic acts in real life.

Otherwise, there's a couple of theatrical trailers, including one for Spiderman that really makes us look forward to its upcoming DVD release.

Lost Command on DVD

If you'd like another interesting look at military life, take a boo at Columbia Tristar's Lost Command.

This 1966 film is based on the novel "The Centurians" and stars Anthony Quinn as the Lieutenant Colonel Raspeguy, a paratrooper battalion commander we first meet in Indo China. Gaspeguy is a dynamic leader whose men love him, but he has problems with those above him in the chain of command and that leads him to being known as a maverick.

The film opens with the ill-fated Battle of Dien Bien Phu that forced France to give up IndoChina (later known as Vietnam). Raspeguy, his surviving officers and soldiers are captured and, later, repatriated back to France. But rather than being hailed for his efforts, Raspeguy is relieved of his paratrooper command, though he gets another one via a newly formed paratrooper regiment formed to take on Arab guerillas in Algeria, a group fighting for the country's independence from France.

As fate would have it, the leader of the guerilla/terrorist network is a man with whom Raspeguy served in IndoChina, though there are no heartwarming scenes of their reunion.

The movie gives some interesting insight into the minds of Arab terrorists, whose strategy of targeting innocent civilians doesn't seem to have changed too much since the 1950's, but it's a more interesting look at the French military.

Lost Command is a good war movie and, since it's set in conflicts other than the Big Ones we usually get to see from Hollywood (World Wars and Vietnam), it's an interesting change of pace. There are good action scenes, though they're very tame by comparison with what they do today, including in the much more graphic Black Hawk Down.

But that isn't necessarily a bad thing…

Quinn is good as the beleaguered Raspeguy and he's supported by a good cast that includes Alain Delon, Michelle Morgan, Claudia Cardinale and, in an unusual bit of casting, George Segal - who kids of today will know from his role in the TV sitcom "Just Shoot Me."

The DVD is pretty good, though not nearly in the league of Black Hawk Down. As usual, Columbia Tristar has done a good job in the presentation, which features digitally mastered (in HD) anamorphic widescreen video and Dolby Digital 2 Channel surround. The picture quality is good, though not great; it's fine, generally, but in places looks a tad grainy and/or washed out.

Audio quality is pretty good. You actually get three audio channels, the three across the front of the home theater, and that's fine (though at times when some characters are on the edge of the screen their voices come from the left or right speaker, making them sound offscreen depending on your speakers' placement). Overall sound quality is average; there's no concussion from the explosions, for example, as there is on Black Hawk Down.

But that's really comparing apples to oranges. For a film of its age and stature, the transfer of Lost Command to DVD is fine.

Extras include a couple of trailers.

Black Hawk Down, from Columbia Tristar Home Video
144 min. anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Starring Josh Harnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner and Sam Shepard
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer
Written by Ken Nolan, Directed by Ridley Scott

Lost Command, from Columbia Tristar Home Video
130 min. anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital 2 channel surround
Starring Anthony Quinn, Alain Delon, Michelle Morgan, Claudia Cardinale, George Segal
Written by Nelson Gidding
Produced and Directed by Mark Robson

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