Black Hawk Down vs. We Were Soldiers...

[Jerk Shapiro]

Black Hawk Down was good... based on a true story. Gory, thought-provoking, and powerful. Overall: 8/10

We Were Soldiers... was a Vietnam film. Starring Mel Gibson. Not as much gore, really not that powerful, but it still tells a pretty damn good story. Overall: 8/10

BHD: 8/10
WWS: 8/10

To close to call here... but if I had a gun to my head. I'd say I liked Black Hawk Down better.

[Nate6]

I'll take the masterful Black Hawk Down (9/10) over the still-good-but-cheesy We Were Soldiers (8/10). I still remember out good friend DTM calling Soldiers "a perfect film."

[CeMeTaRy_GaTeS]

BLAC HAWK DOWN all the way. WE WERE SOLDIERS was good, but had sappy moments Black Hawk didn't. And I don't like sap in war movies.

[SteveSzyk]

If these two films could combine, and make one we'd have the perfect film. We Were Soldiers provides the better character development, and a much more personal, emotional experience. However, Black Hawk Down features much better visuals. The gorgeous cinematography, and the amazing action sequences were just a pleasure to watch. The higer quality film I'd say is We Were Soldiers, only because of the character development.

[ColinM]

Black Hawk Down (9/10) beats We Were Soldiers (8/10) by a nose in my book. Interestingly, the lack of character development in BHD never really bothered me. They developed them enough for me to not want them dead, and not too much more to be distracting from the mission.

[adidas12185]

I think R. Scott knew what he was doing when he took the "character development" out, he was trying to put the audience right-slam in the middle of the battle.

Character development can be kind of become too Hollywood- like too imo. That's why I liked B.H.D. alot, its a pure war movie with absolutely no Hollywood fluff imo. Unpredictable and intense. W.W.S. kind of seemed to predictable and sappy at times to me, where as B.H.D wasn't. But they're both great overall and realistic war films.

Black Hawk Down- Scott 9/10
We Were Soldiers- Wallace 8/10

[Dumb-Fokker-**]

I preferred We Were Soldiers strangely enough. Judging from the previews, I was expecting a rather tame war film, but when those French soldiers were attacked at the beggining, I was pretty shocked. I went into BHD expecting it to be bad - it wasnt that bad. SPR was much, much worse for me. Also, I liked the way WWS was a war movie that was made like the older, more "heroic" war films, but the violence was more realistic. The styles clashed, but I liked it. So,...yeah.

[Strider]

Despite the lack of character development, Black Hawk Down (10/10) was a great film, and of my fav war flicks. As for We Were Soldiers (7/10), it was a solid film, but it had too many corny scenes. And also, every scene with the wives in the film was just dreadful and boring... not only did it interrupt all the interesting stuff, but it pissed me off as well!

Strider

[therealjohng]

Although We Were soldiers is a very good war film, Black Hawk Down does what none others have been able to do. And that's put you into the battle, thanks to Ridley Scott's ingenious direction.

We Were Soldiers (8.5/10)
Black Hawk Down (10/10)

[CouchPotato420]

BLACK HAWK DOWN

[Grebdron]

I didn't see BHD, but I can tell you that We Were Soldiers was not a good war film. Way over the top acting and a weak story line made it barely average. Good special effects (i.e. the skin peel) don't make it a good movie. The wives scenes were hokey, and Gibson tried to work in every "grizzled old commanding officer with a heart of gold" cliche he could. My vote would have to go blindly to BHD.

[This message has been edited by Grebdron (edited 09-05-2002).]

[Scarface98.9]

Black Hawk Down. Scott was robbed of the Best Director Oscar IMO. But it was a gritty, realistic, tense, and powerful movie.

WWS, on the other hand, tried to be Apollo 13. A13 effectively had tense scenes with compelling scenes on earth with the wives. WWS's scenes like that interrupted the flow of the movie, and was pure sappiness/fluff

[Puck Bond]

We Were Soldiers-10/10
Black Hawk Down-10/10

I am giving the slight edge to We Were Soldiers because overall the characters were more human and more relatable...both have awesome, gruesome and harrowing battle sequences which are just as good as each other. Also giving the edge to We Were Soldiers because its part of the Vietnam War compared to a small military operation in Somalia.

[therealjohng]

YYYYEEEESSSSS!!! Scarface, finally someone agrees with me that Scott was robbed at the Oscars!!

[Nate6]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by therealjohng:
YYYYEEEESSSSS!!! Scarface, finally someone agrees with me that Scott was robbed at the Oscars!!</font>

I also agree. In The Other's Final Oscar Choices thread a few weeks ago, I chose him as the most deserving nominee.

[CeMeTaRy_GaTeS]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by therealjohng:
YYYYEEEESSSSS!!! Scarface, finally someone agrees with me that Scott was robbed at the Oscars!!</font>

Add me to that list. Scott and Lynch's films were also robbed of best Picture, and I think those two were also the most deserving of best director

[Country1969]

I liked them both. I thought Black Hawk Down had action from start to finish. But We Were Soldiers was also good. The 2 best war movies of the year for me. You don't see too many war movies,at least good ones.

[asyouwish530]

Black Hawk Down was better for me because I liked the more current subject matter and I like watching Somolians riot. Not to say We Were Soldiers was bad, but I'd take Platoon over it any 'ol day. Nice gore fx though. The soldiers wives scenes were awful.

[DaFuNk44]

It's a tie ! BHD was good because it kept you interested, scared and breathless with is constant action (which really means death). WWS was good because it got more into the characters and was less gory, but just as effective.

Black Hawk Down ---&gt; 7/10
We Were Soldiers ---&gt; 7/10