Black Hawk Down

[benzylic]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
I'd highly recommend the book "Inside Delta Force" by Eric Haney. All the facts (that they let him print) without all the hollywood. It really opened my eyes to what these guys are really about, and how the guys on the ground tend to have unique perspectives on major events as they're unfolding.

I second that. I just finished the book last week. It's a really good read. I wish he could have went into more detail on some things, but I know why he wasn't allowed to.

I really really want to know the story behind is the Nicaraguan guerrilla leader (the Green Beret), and if he was working for the CIA or was actually working with the Nicaraguans in good faith. I read online that he was part Nicaraguan, so I don't know, probably never will.

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
The Unit is "loosely" based around the book. Think CBS cancelled that show

They picked it up for a forth season last week!! YAY!

 

[alkemyst]

WOLVERINES!

 

[tboo]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
I'd highly recommend the book "Inside Delta Force" by Eric Haney. All the facts (that they let him print) without all the hollywood. It really opened my eyes to what these guys are really about, and how the guys on the ground tend to have unique perspectives on major events as they're unfolding.

Thats funny you mention that because thats the book Im reading right now-its very good.

Do you recommend any other books?

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Savarak
i should pick it up for blu-ray

it looks nice, but IMO not one of the better transfers. Some love the HD PQ, I think the digital graininess is less effective when exposed through HD.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: ja1484

An excellent film. I own a copy.

While this one remained largely true to the source material, beware of "learning" from movies. Some things are quite embellished. In BHD, for example, Eric Bana's character is entirely fictitious and was created for the movie.

well, he's actually an amalgamation of several actual individuals. so, his character is fictitious, but in a 2 hour movie, it's just silly trying to develop 20 characters when it can be done with one character.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: duragezic
Sgt. Norm Hooten (Bana's character) is real, no? I think towards the end of the book, it mentions him as one of the Delta Force guys who rearmed and was going back out after the last of the men arrived at the Pakistani Stadium. He's definitely in the book as one of the team leaders.

pakistani stadium? i thought they were in mogadishu, somalia?

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
Not sure which character it was, but I do recall that at least one of the main characters was an amalgamation of several real people and fiction created for the movie

According to the Wiki, its Hartnett's role that is a combination of several real people. Bana played Hooten, a real person, although his role in the movie is somewhat magnified IIRC.

well, from the screenwriter and from Bana's mouth, it is Bana's character "Hoot" that is the conglomerate.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: rasczak

Originally posted by: duragezic
Sgt. Norm Hooten (Bana's character) is real, no? I think towards the end of the book, it mentions him as one of the Delta Force guys who rearmed and was going back out after the last of the men arrived at the Pakistani Stadium. He's definitely in the book as one of the team leaders.

pakistani stadium? i thought they were in mogadishu, somalia?

which was in the control of a Pakistani force, I believe? or Jordanians?

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: rasczak

Originally posted by: duragezic
Sgt. Norm Hooten (Bana's character) is real, no? I think towards the end of the book, it mentions him as one of the Delta Force guys who rearmed and was going back out after the last of the men arrived at the Pakistani Stadium. He's definitely in the book as one of the team leaders.

pakistani stadium? i thought they were in mogadishu, somalia?

which was in the control of a Pakistani force, I believe? or Jordanians?

ok, that makes more sense. my memories of the movie are a bit vague. i'll just borrow it from my brotehr in law and watch it again.

 

[Arkaign]

Book > Movie. Sorry to say it, it's a great film, but there's simply waaaaaaay too much detail to fit into a 2-hour film.

Only perfect way to do it would be a la Band of Brothers, ten 1-hour episodes to tell the story in greater detail.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Book > Movie. Sorry to say it, it's a great film, but there's simply waaaaaaay too much detail to fit into a 2-hour film.

Only perfect way to do it would be a la Band of Brothers, ten 1-hour episodes to tell the story in greater detail.

I think to do that, though, would require too much "24-style" dramatizing. meaning, putting more fictitious events in order to sustain a day-long story over 10 1-hour episodes.

granted, I haven't read the book, and while I'm the type that prefers story to action, I see that most of those that love BHD (the film), love it for the action. If several episodes focused on one character per episode, kind of retelling the events from different perspectives each time, I see how that could be very brilliant and effective. However, it might be unsuccessful financially as the general TV/Movie-going audience is largely brain-dead to anything that isn't non-stop bullets and explosions

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Book > Movie. Sorry to say it, it's a great film, but there's simply waaaaaaay too much detail to fit into a 2-hour film.

Only perfect way to do it would be a la Band of Brothers, ten 1-hour episodes to tell the story in greater detail.

and I know people who say it still isn't better than the book. Suffice it to say, I don't think there exists a movie that anyone has deemed better than the book its based on. Just the nature of the mediums I think, and the ability to craft your own characters in your mind, versus a film telling you what you see and hear.
Regardless, I still need to get around to reading quite a few war books that I haven't read. Band of Brothers, We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, and Black Hawk Down, among a few others.

+

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Book > Movie. Sorry to say it, it's a great film, but there's simply waaaaaaay too much detail to fit into a 2-hour film.

Only perfect way to do it would be a la Band of Brothers, ten 1-hour episodes to tell the story in greater detail.

and I know people who say it still isn't better than the book. Suffice it to say, I don't think there exists a movie that anyone has deemed better than the book its based on. Just the nature of the mediums I think, and the ability to craft your own characters in your mind, versus a film telling you what you see and hear.
Regardless, I still need to get around to reading quite a few war books that I haven't read. Band of Brothers, We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, and Black Hawk Down, among a few others.

+

the LoTR films are >>>>>>better than the books.

perhaps it's b/c I read the books when I was older, and not at the adolescent age that they are written for, but the characters as depicted in the books are flat and worthless. the language is somewhat trite.

The films depict the characters with actual motivation, and internal complications.

 

[upsciLLion]

Originally posted by: rasczak

Originally posted by: duragezic
Sgt. Norm Hooten (Bana's character) is real, no? I think towards the end of the book, it mentions him as one of the Delta Force guys who rearmed and was going back out after the last of the men arrived at the Pakistani Stadium. He's definitely in the book as one of the team leaders.

pakistani stadium? i thought they were in mogadishu, somalia?

Shit, no wonder they were so tired. That's a long way to run.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Book > Movie. Sorry to say it, it's a great film, but there's simply waaaaaaay too much detail to fit into a 2-hour film.

Only perfect way to do it would be a la Band of Brothers, ten 1-hour episodes to tell the story in greater detail.

and I know people who say it still isn't better than the book. Suffice it to say, I don't think there exists a movie that anyone has deemed better than the book its based on. Just the nature of the mediums I think, and the ability to craft your own characters in your mind, versus a film telling you what you see and hear.
Regardless, I still need to get around to reading quite a few war books that I haven't read. Band of Brothers, We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, and Black Hawk Down, among a few others.

+

the LoTR films are >>>>>>better than the books.

perhaps it's b/c I read the books when I was older, and not at the adolescent age that they are written for, but the characters as depicted in the books are flat and worthless. the language is somewhat trite.

The films depict the characters with actual motivation, and internal complications.

Blasphemy

The Hobbit and LOTR are beloved classics because of the incredible detail in every aspect, from character to landscape to art to battle to language and so on.

Definitely not perfect, and a difficult set to read at first, but the LOTR films could never fully measure up to the epic nature of the source material. It's simply too vast. They remain some of the best work ever put to film however.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Arkaign

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Book > Movie. Sorry to say it, it's a great film, but there's simply waaaaaaay too much detail to fit into a 2-hour film.

Only perfect way to do it would be a la Band of Brothers, ten 1-hour episodes to tell the story in greater detail.

and I know people who say it still isn't better than the book. Suffice it to say, I don't think there exists a movie that anyone has deemed better than the book its based on. Just the nature of the mediums I think, and the ability to craft your own characters in your mind, versus a film telling you what you see and hear.
Regardless, I still need to get around to reading quite a few war books that I haven't read. Band of Brothers, We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, and Black Hawk Down, among a few others.

+

the LoTR films are >>>>>>better than the books.

perhaps it's b/c I read the books when I was older, and not at the adolescent age that they are written for, but the characters as depicted in the books are flat and worthless. the language is somewhat trite.

The films depict the characters with actual motivation, and internal complications.

Blasphemy

The Hobbit and LOTR are beloved classics because of the incredible detail in every aspect, from character to landscape to art to battle to language and so on.

Definitely not perfect, and a difficult set to read at first, but the LOTR films could never fully measure up to the epic nature of the source material. It's simply too vast. They remain some of the best work ever put to film however.

methinks you're too much of a fan to judge objectively?
simply, the characters are dry, flat, and uncomplicated in the books. The movies turned them into rational, thinking beings, with complicated moral dilemmas.

Kudos to Tolkien for creating this vast world that inspired nerds and D&D, but the books themselves are classics b/c they are extremely popular, not b/c they are masterpieces of literature.

However, I think the Silmarilian is this best book to come out of that. seems like they style that he was going for from the beginning.

thread derail over....

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
It was a very good movie imo.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Book > Movie. Sorry to say it, it's a great film, but there's simply waaaaaaay too much detail to fit into a 2-hour film.

Only perfect way to do it would be a la Band of Brothers, ten 1-hour episodes to tell the story in greater detail.

and I know people who say it still isn't better than the book. Suffice it to say, I don't think there exists a movie that anyone has deemed better than the book its based on. Just the nature of the mediums I think, and the ability to craft your own characters in your mind, versus a film telling you what you see and hear.
Regardless, I still need to get around to reading quite a few war books that I haven't read. Band of Brothers, We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, and Black Hawk Down, among a few others.

+

the LoTR films are >>>>>>better than the books.

perhaps it's b/c I read the books when I was older, and not at the adolescent age that they are written for, but the characters as depicted in the books are flat and worthless. the language is somewhat trite.

The films depict the characters with actual motivation, and internal complications.

O RLY? I liked the movies, but there was a lot of cool stuff they left out of the movies. There was no Mouth of Sauron for one thing (IMO one of the coolest characters ever).

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: rasczak

Originally posted by: duragezic
Sgt. Norm Hooten (Bana's character) is real, no? I think towards the end of the book, it mentions him as one of the Delta Force guys who rearmed and was going back out after the last of the men arrived at the Pakistani Stadium. He's definitely in the book as one of the team leaders.

pakistani stadium? i thought they were in mogadishu, somalia?

.... it's "the Mog" or simply "Mog". No one calls it "Mogadishu" here. ...

 

[duragezic]

Originally posted by: mxrider

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
I'd highly recommend the book "Inside Delta Force" by Eric Haney. All the facts (that they let him print) without all the hollywood. It really opened my eyes to what these guys are really about, and how the guys on the ground tend to have unique perspectives on major events as they're unfolding.

I second that. I just finished the book last week. It's a really good read. I wish he could have went into more detail on some things, but I know why he wasn't allowed to.

I really really want to know the story behind is the Nicaraguan guerrilla leader (the Green Beret), and if he was working for the CIA or was actually working with the Nicaraguans in good faith. I read online that he was part Nicaraguan, so I don't know, probably never will.

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
The Unit is "loosely" based around the book. Think CBS cancelled that show

They picked it up for a forth season last week!! YAY!

YYEEEEEEEEESSS!

The Unit FTMFW

Didn't know it was picked up until now. Too bad CBS gave it a crap time slot for being a spectacular show.

I'm also reading Inside Delta Force right now.

Another book on DF is "Delta Force: The Army's Elite Counterterrorist Unit" by Beckwith (the guy who created and led DF at the start!). My understanding is that his book is more focused on how it came to be created, influenced by the SAS, hurdles to go through when creating the organization, and such. But it also goes in detail on the Iran hostage mission and I think training as well. Maybe not as entertaining as Inside Delta Force, but good book either way I've heard. I will probably eventually buy it. I don't know of any other books on Delta Force, but there are a number of them on the SEALs and other special forces.

 

[antyler]

couldnt agree more. awesome scene, slightly depressing, but awesome nonetheless.

 

[cw42]

one of my fav movies.

 

[maddogchen]

i can never watch the full movie. I just watch certain parts. The helicopter run on the rooftop and then part where they all load onto the copters and fly off.

 

[jpeyton]

The movie was praised for its realism, but got panned for lack of character development. A good, but not great, war movie.

I have it on Blu-Ray. The lossless sound KICKS ASS. I always watch it with my system turned-up extra loud.

 

[Gamingphreek]

I have as my top war movies (series included ):

1. Band of Brothers
1. Saving Private Ryan
1. Black Hawk Down

If you like the BHD movie, watch The History Channels "True Story of Black Hawk Down"-- Wow that is powerful! I also read BoB book, as well as both of Dick Winter's Autobiographies.

-Kevin