Sample Movie Review

I love it when I have industrious folks who don't wait until the last possible second to get their assignments done, especially when said assignment is something that they have never done before. Many of you have already begun working on your movie reviews (*pats on the back for you*) and have questions. To give you a helping hand, I'm posting a sample review below. This one was turned in for my summer American History II class and was definitely an A paper. Read it to get the gist of what you are supposed to do with the movies for this semester. The format is the same even if the movies deal with a different time period in history. Remember to include a works cited page at the end (I'm not posting that part; I figure you can find info on that yourself and I'm not stupid enough to give you all of the info for a movie review for next semester.)

As always, ask or email if you have any questions.


Super Great Student
Ramona Shelton
American History II
August 2, 2010

The 2001 blockbuster, Black Hawk Down, directed by Ridley Scott and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer was based directly on Mark Bowden’s New York Times best seller by the same title. Unlike many of Hollywood’s big budget films, this project was unbelievably historically accurate. The facts, events, and statistics in the movie were very accurate but there were some differences as well.

When mentioning the military units involved in the conflict, the movie failed to mention the involvement of U. S. Navy’s SEALs. “ The Humvees were filled with Rangers, Delta operators, and four members of SEAL Team Six, part of the navy’s special forces branch” (Bowden 5). These soldiers are known to be world class warriors. Their involvement would be influential due to their unparalleled military training. Besides, every other military faction, from Delta special forces, army Taskforce Rangers, and the pilots of SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment), was mentioned in the movie (Bowden 5).

Sometimes the producers may have made changes about the facts of a story in order or add specific details in order to make the story easier to follow. There were more than 140 soldiers involved in these rescue missions. It would have been impossible to be able to keep up with them all. So the producers decided to write the Task Force Ranger’s names on their helmets so that the audience can keep up with some the characters involved in the main story line. Also unlike in the book, not all of the characters are referred to by name. It would be way too overwhelming for the audience to try to keep up with all the names of all of the characters in the story. Bowden gave the names and ranks of the soldiers as they appear in the novel. The characters in the movie tend to blend together in the “fog” of war since they were almost all wearing the same exact dirt-covered uniforms. This allowed you to immerse yourself into the movie without worrying about trying to differentiate between all the soldiers.

In the movie, Sgt Eversman remained in the city over night stranded with his fellow Rangers fighting in the night siege. He actually returned to base later in the day with the Col. Danny McNight’s convoy. “Another minor factual error included the role and position of Sgt. Eversman, the main character of the movie, who in reality returns to base with his convoy during the day with the prisoners” (Walker. Jr). I feel it was easier for the audience to stay involved in this part of the movie because they have come to know and like Josh Hartnet’s character, Sgt. Eversman. If Hartnet’s character had returned to the base as he did in real life, the audience may not have kept the connection with the soldiers remaining in the city overnight.

Ewan McGregor’s character of Specialist John ”Grimsey” Grimes, a U. S. Army Ranger, is based on a soldier named SPC John Stebbins. This character’s name was changed due to the fact that he was found guilty by court marshal of sexually assaulting his daughter in 1999 (US v Stebbins).

In the film, the soldiers were unsuccessful in the attempt to free Chief Warrant Officer Clifton “Elvis Wolcott’s body and his copilot’s body from the cockpit of the downed Super Six-One. With time quickly running out we were led to believe that they may have had take drastic measures in order to free his lifeless body because of their motto, ‘No man left behind.’ “Several Rangers pulled at the crumpled wreckage to free Wolcott and the copilot. To no avail: it would eventually take a humvee with a towrope to pry the bodies free” (Van Voorst).

Despite a few simple inaccuracies in the movie, the movie as a whole was very historically accurate. It was so important for the movie to appear as accurate as possible that forty of the actors received two weeks of Ranger training. Three of those received two additional weeks of specialized commando training in order to portray the Delta Force operators. The actual Ranger company involved in the operation in 1993 not only played the extras in the film, but also performed the fast roping stunts in the movie. Like the actors portraying the Rangers, the actors playing the helicopter pilots received specialized training as well. Other than Wolcott and Durant, some of the pilots from the original 1993 operation played themselves in the movie. In addition, the U. S. Army provided all the helicopters, humvees, and weapons used in the filming of this movie (historychannel.com).

Finally, the lack of ethnic diversity of the casting proved the genuineness to the actual soldiers represented in the original operation. “Only one of the forty American soldiers depicted is black. (Special Forces tend to be much whiter than the rest of the Army)” (Sailer)

Ridley Scott’s attempt to create a movie that accurately depicts the Battle of Mogadishu was a total success. It was not meant to glorify war but simply show what our soldiers experience when confronted with battle. This movie was shot from an American perspective. It may be a little biased but, that is to be expected from a film shot about such a recent event. The movie was released only eight short years after the actual event. Hooah!