Black Hawk Down

The story is a very powerful one as it is based on actual events. And it is somewhat thought provoking after the movie if one chooses to ask how this event unfold as it did. I watched the extended 4K version of the movie. It also comes with a theatrical 4K version as well as a standard Blu-ray and digital coupon.On the technical side I absolutely loved the far better than average audio effects. Great use of overheads for those with a Dolby Atmos or near equivalent system. The ground floor effects are also quite above average.The video does have some grain but the movie was not shot in 4K so not should be expected.But there were a couple things that caused me not to rate this movie as a 5. The biggest problem I have is there were times when the video and audio lost sync. To correct this I had to reload the disc. This very much interrupted the flow of the movie. Perhaps the theatrical version does not have this issue. As I am using an OPPO 203 and have not had this experience with any other video I strongly feel the issue came from the disc. I hope this is unique to just my disc and doesn't affect others. But be aware.In the end I don't regret purchasing the movie and would urge others to buy it. I hope the DVD manufacturers utilize better quality control in the future.

The audio on the 4K theatrical version right before the battle starts (~30 minutes in) has a major issue in that you can't hear the dialogue. I believe whatever is supposed to go to the center channel speaker does not work. It made the movie unwatchable because you might as well have it on mute. This is quite unfortunate because in 4K the movie looks wonderful.I read other people experienced audio issues with the 4K disc and I ignored their warnings

I will not knock this fantastic movie by dropping stars because of this very poor quality DVD. I bought the 4K to replace the DVD that I've watched 1000 times. I couldn't wait to hear this movie in ATMOS. What A let down. This movie soundtrack skipped, shifted sound, cut out, and the movie locked up several times. Even when it did play the tracking and sound were pretty poor and the DVD sounds better. Do not waste your money on this version.

Love the movie, 4K looks great. However, the disc I got has issues with the Doby Atmos audio. In some scenes the dialogue goes silent and I had to restart the chapter to fix it. Never had this issue with a 4K disc before and I have a pretty good collection. Not sure if this is an issue with the specific disc I got or an issue for all of them.

2/3/20 UPDATE: I gave this UHD release another star! Even though it has sync issues with the extended cut, and not the same level of LFE volume as other titles, I gave the theatrical version a go and it was great. I did, however, increase the subwoofer level on my AVR by 4dB and that made a big difference (-8dB instead of -11dB). I typically do not have to veer outside of my calibrated settings, but this time I did and it sounded fantastic. Please read my original review below as it still stands....People are right about the A/V sync issues. I watched the extended cut and the added scenes had terrible sync issues. I trust that the theatrical version does not.On the plus side, the price was right for the 4K version (~$13). The picture quality is really good, but I thought the audio lacked demo-level "punch". Movies like Blade Runner 2049, Dark Knight, Mad Max Fury Road, and Interstellar REALLY shake the house. BHD just didn't seem to have the LFE those movies do. Besides that, the movie sounded good. Much better than the DVD for sure.

Black Hawk Down was a war film based upon a book of the same name. It covered the real life events that took place in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993. The United States was deployed to the country as part of a United Nations peacekeeping operation but ended up taking on local warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid with deadly consequences when two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down leading to a long and bloody siege. The movie doesn’t attempt to explain the Somali civil war or even the peace keeping mission. It focuses just on the American fight to retrieve the helicopter crews. In doing so it lays down an intense war drama that showed how ridiculous the American position was.At the start of the film an American Delta team captures one of Aidid’s financiers. He talks to the U.S. commander General Garrison played by Sam Shepard. He tells the general that the U.S. has only been in the country for a few weeks and didn’t know anything. Somalia was in a civil war, and it was their affair meaning the Americans were not welcome and didn’t understand what was going on. That is the background to the battle that would unfold.The heart of the movie is based upon a raid the U.S. makes in downtown Mogadishu to arrest some of Aidid’s main advisers. Aidid’s men were ready and shot down two Black Hawks. The Americans sent in wave after wave of men to get the crews out of those downed copters, which took two days of fighting. The film makes it seem like the whole city was coming down upon the U.S. troops as 100s of Somali militiamen were involved. In every window and from every rooftop gunmen could and did appear. The streets were blocked off with burning tires to block the American vehicles. Gun trucks with heavy machine guns would appear. Mobs of civilians and militiamen were walking the streets hunting down the Americans who were strung out along multiple blocks throughout the city trying to get to the crash sites. Things turned to hell within minutes. It turned out the Somalis not the Americans were the aggressors. Again, the U.S. didn’t understand Somali politics, and it didn’t plan for what befell it when it launched this raid. That’s what Black Hawk Down portrays in some of the most intense non-stop action scenes put to screen.

正しくは戦争映画ではなく、紛争地域における特定の作戦遂行を描写した戦闘ドキュメンタリー映画。軍事作戦中に起きたアクシデントと、そこから基地への兵士達の生還を克明に追っている。ブラインド性ではベトナム戦争の密林にも匹敵するソマリア市街、そのゲリラ戦の困難度を兵士視点の手持ちカメラでリアルに撮影している。その迫力は｢プライベート･ライアン｣冒頭のノルマンディ上陸作戦に次ぐ素晴らしい出来だ。但しテーマ性が異なり、Pライアンは戦争と国民の関係性を問うが、このBHDは戦闘における仲間への忠誠心だ。不測事態にも仲間を見捨てない兵士達の姿勢には心から共感する。ただ戦闘描写なので兵士達の判断は訓練で培った反射神経の延長線上であり、戦争と自分の関係性を見つめたものではない。傷みと虚しさだけが残る戦闘映画なのだ。国家や相手兵士への特段の感情はなく、バックアッププランもない杜撰な作戦を立案した作戦司令部への不満だけがそこにある。戦闘リアリズムに徹しただけにスケール感や思想性ではPライアンに劣る。この映画を見ても民族紛争の解決や多国籍軍の運用への示唆は得られない。ただただ軍事行動の現場では、毎日若い命が互いに削り合っている非情な現実を知る事に意味がある。リドリー･スコットの狙いは、米国民を含む人類に対して新たなゲリラ戦形態の戦争における“米軍の現実”を見せることにあるが、その目的は充分に果たされたようだ。私自身が本作に見たのは戦争賛美等ではなく、米国の戸惑いと世界への警告だ。米国が干渉すべきは米国民の命を賭ける価値がある場合に限定したいと。現在の内向くアメリカを見れば、本作の果たした役割は大きかったと感心する一方、今後の世界の地政学的な不安定性に不安が募る。それだけ自由主義陣営の諸国が、米国の警察機能に依存していた証左だ。観ることよりも、観た後に考える事の方がとても重要な問題作だと思う。

本作の内容などにはもう書きませんが、4K UHDとして無事高画質・高音質を楽しめるのは良かったです。海外の仕様と違い、劇場公開版/EX版それぞれUHDに別れているある意味贅沢な仕様ですが、映像と音響はBD初期に出たものから格段に進化しています。ドルビーアトモスの効果も頭上を飛び交うヘリや、銃弾の位置関係がより明確になっています。BDに新たに収録された、テレ東放送の吹き替えですがDVD/BDの吹き替えと声優さんと訳が違うのですがとても良い出来なので収録は嬉しいです。ただBDはEX版なのでテレビではカットされたシーンも多いため、その場面は字幕・英語に切り替わります。とても素晴らしいクオリティなのですが、残念なことにBD/DVDのコレクターズBOXにあった映像特典は入っていません。本作は特典映像がとても充実した、資料価値の高いものですがそれがまったく入っていません。あわせてリドリー・スコットのコメンタリーも未収録です。最高画質でリドリーのコメンタリーも聞いて見たかったのでこの点が残念でした。ですので、過去のDVDやBDのボックスを持っている方は絶対に処分しないように注意してください。

If you are a fan of Black Hawk Down, then this deluxe set is a must have for you.It covers not just the movie, but every single aspect. From making the movie with Ridley Scott and his team, training the actors, and Hans Zimmers awesome score and so much more...All the way to containing full documentaries of the actual operations and true events in Mogadishu, Somalia. It was eye opening to say the least.Overall an amazing DVD set and a must have.

Ive loved this film first time i see it in the cinema the extended cut makes it so much better love it

Brilliant, brutal and credible. If you're a fan of war movies and haven't seen this yet, you need to.