It's been awhile since I last watched this movie, but I was recently given the two-disc dvd as a gift and I figured that I'd watch it through to make sure everything was okay. I was totally blown away by how poignoit this movie was and still is. I remember watching it at the cinema when it first got released with a friend of mine who had a huge thing for Josh Hartnet and thinking that it was going to be another one of those war movies that dominated television on Sunday afternoons when I was a kid. I however I found that my forced endurance to sit through the movie without getting bored was replaced with fascination at how dumb the world really is also that and the fact that I was eager to see which actors were cameoing, some huge Hollywood stars, some actors who are now in various hit television shows and a former British soap actor who just doesn't do it for me like he did when I was 12.

So, I've just finished watching and once again I'm blown away by the imense bravery of those men who risked their lives to save their friends and the stupidity of some people in this world. I did however play the 'Spot Carmine' game while I watched. Boy does he look different. He looks a lot older in certain parts of the movie, particularly later on when the Rangers are securing the first crash site and while he's not in the movie for very long - he's in a couple of blink and you'll miss him scenes at the beginning and also during the shoot outs later on. In fact I had to keep rewinding the disc back and doing double takes while debating whether it really was him in the scenes.

As I was saying he looks a lot older in the movie than he does now, but I dunno if that's the crew cut or the black hair (do they dye all marines hair to be black?) but he still managed to look pretty good. I did wonder why Carmine's character was sat carving a stake in one scene - hoping to be brought back as a vamp on Buffy maybe?

While I thought that it was a good role for Carmine to play, I didn't feel that it really did anything for him as an actor. The plot was about getting everyone out of the city, but I felt that there was nothing else stable and continous about the dialogue and the rest of the action except for perhaps the scenes with Sam Shepard at HQ. There were too many actors in there for a start, all with fantastic ability - Josh, Orlando Bloom, Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepard, Hugh Dancy etc.. - which meant that the lesser knowns were getting less on screen time. I reckon that Carmine would have been able to pull the emotional stuff that Josh's character went through, probably a lot better, had he been cast in more of a key role. Still it was interesting to see Carmine in a role that doesn't see him gunned down over shoes or money or mooning over a girl.

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My take on Black Hawk Down is a bit different. It’s actually based on the true story of soldiers sent to Somalia to take the city back from the ruthless dictator there, who essentially led that city into ruin. That’s not to say that Mogadishu was some fantastic place before, but United Nations efforts to help those in need were thwarted by his rule. Seems to happen a lot in Africa, if you follow what’s going on in Darfur…

I’m with you though… It was hard to determine if ‘that guy hiding behind that burnt out car or peeking around the corner’ was Carmine. It was so fast paced during those fighting scenes that you really couldn’t tell. But the few scenes where you got to see him, I don’t complain about. Especially that first scene you see him and he’s twiddling a piece of wood. I think that was maybe something that the real life Mike Goodale did and Carmine did it in the movie. Then again, guys do weird things that we can’t understand, so you never know.

Given the fact that this movie was considered a vehicle for Josh Hartnett, we didn’t get a lot of Carmine. I’m sure we all agree that we’d like to have seen more of Carmine in it, but it was good to see him work in this movie which was a tribute to the soldiers who went into and died in this failed mission. I’m not a fan of war films and considering it was so recent, 1993, I like how they did this movie. I’ll never forget the images of the pilots of the downed Black Hawk choppers being dragged through the city and worse. They did a good job with the film and even though his part is kinda small, it was essential to the telling of the story because Mike Goodale is an actual person who survived that mission.

And now, Carmine wears his dog tags because of it. And, no.. they don't dye Marine's hair. I know a couple of blonde 'Jarheads'. I think maybe the real Mike Goodale had the darker hair and they dyed Carmine's hair for the movie... Or, his roots are just dark.

i love also
because this is a very good movie
the are a lot of good actors and Carmine
i have see this movie a lot

I liked the movie too. I just have a hard time watching anything about wars. I thought the cast was wonderful and a great job was done trying to stay true to the stories of each of the men who fought there. It was a great tribute.

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yeap