Air
Force One 1997
 Units depicted: Delta Force, AF Pararescue,
AFSOC MC-130, 160th SOAR
Plot: A military partnership between the United
States and Russia has resulted in the capture
of the dangerous and fanatical General Alexander
Radek (Jurgen Prochnow, the captain from Das
Boot), the self-appointed military dictator
of Khazakstan. A group of terrorists, led by
the psychotic Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman),
uses an elaborate ruse to get on board Air
Force One for a trans-Atlantic trip from Moscow
to Washington D.C. Once the plane is in the
sky, Korshunov (with a little inside help)
takes over. The President apparently escapes
in an emergency pod, but, in reality, he's
hiding out in the luggage compartment, ready
to do battle single-handedly with the six bad
guys, who are holding fifty passengers at gun
point, including his wife (Wendy Crewson) and
12-year old daughter (Liesel Matthews). Back
in the United States, the Vice President (Glenn
Close) is doing her best to defuse the situation,
but Korshunov is adamant: he will kill one
hostage every half-hour until Radek has been
released.
SOC Rating: 
BLACKHAWK
DOWN 2002
 Ridley
Scott's Black Hawk Down conveys the raw,
chaotic urgency of ground-force battle in
a worst-case scenario. With exacting detail,
the film re-creates the American siege of
the Somalian city of Mogadishu in October
1993, when a 45-minute mission turned into
a 16-hour ordeal of bloody urban warfare.
Helicopter-borne U.S. Rangers were assigned
to capture key lieutenants of Somali warlord
Muhammad Farrah Aidid, but when two Black
Hawk choppers were felled by rocket-propelled
grenades, the U.S. soldiers were forced to
fend for themselves in the battle-torn streets
of Mogadishu, attacked from all sides by
armed Aidid supporters. Based on author Mark
Bowden's bestselling account of the battle,
Scott's riveting, action-packed film follows
a sharp ensemble cast in some of the most
authentic battle sequences ever filmed. The
loss of 18 soldiers turned American opinion
against further involvement in Somalia, but
Black Hawk Down makes it clear that the men
involved were undeniably heroic. --Jeff Shannon
From
The New Yorker
This account of the ill-fated 1993 Special Forces action in Mogadishu,
Somalia, which resulted in the death of eighteen Americans, is exceptionally
violent but also truthful to the pain and disorder of battle. It's very
clearly directed by Ridley Scott, who allows you to see where the different
groups of men are fighting in relation to one another. The movie suggests
that despite the casualties the battle was not a total failure but rather
a demonstration of strength-the men were killed, in part, because they
stayed in the danger zone to rescue survivors from the two helicopters
that were shot down. With Sam Shepard, Tom Sizemore, and Josh Hartnett,
all submerging themselves in the business at hand. Ken Nolan, adapting
Mark Bowden's book, achieves the right tone of matter-of-factness, resolution,
and defiance. -David Denby (Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker )
SOC
Rating:
SAVING
PRIVATE RYAN 1999
 When
Steven Spielberg was an adolescent, his first
home movie was a backyard war film. When
he toured Europe with Duel in his 20s, he
saw old men crumble in front of headstones
at Omaha Beach. That image became the opening
scene of Saving Private Ryan, his film of
a mission following the D-day invasion that
many have called the most realistic--and
maybe the best--war film ever. With 1998
production standards, Spielberg has been
able to create a stunning, unparalleled view
of war as hell. We are at Omaha Beach as
troops are slaughtered by Germans yet overcome
the almost insurmountable odds.
A stalwart Tom Hanks plays Captain Miller, a soldier's soldier, who takes
a small band of troops behind enemy lines to retrieve a private whose
three brothers have recently been killed in action. It's a public relations
move for the Army, but it has historical precedent dating back to the
Civil War. Some critics of the film have labeled the central characters
stereotypes. If that is so, this movie gives stereotypes a good name:
Tom Sizemore as the deft sergeant, Edward Burns as the hotheaded Private
Reiben, Barry Pepper as the religious sniper, Adam Goldberg as the lone
Jew, Vin Diesel as the oversize Private Caparzo, Giovanni Ribisi as the
soulful medic, and Jeremy Davies, who as a meek corporal gives the film
its most memorable performance.
The movie is as heavy and realistic as Spielberg's Oscar-winning Schindler's
List, but it's more kinetic. Spielberg and his ace technicians (the film
won five Oscars: editing (Michael Kahn), cinematography (Janusz Kaminski),
sound, sound effects, and directing) deliver battle sequences that wash
over the eyes and hit the gut. The violence is extreme but never gratuitous.
The final battle, a dizzying display of gusto, empathy, and chaos, leads
to a profound repose. Saving Private Ryan touches us deeper than Schindler
because it succinctly links the past with how we should feel today. It's
the film Spielberg was destined to make.
--Doug Thomas
SOC Rating:
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 2000
 Director
William Friedkin knows a thing or two about
staging harrowing action sequences, and if
you don't believe that, you've never seen
The French Connection or To Live and Die
in L.A. He comes through niftily in this
film as well, with an opening Vietnam battle
sequence that sets the stage for the rest
of the story, and then with the central moment
in the film: a rescue mission involving Marines
extricating the American ambassador from
an embassy surrounded by hostile protesters
in Yemen. Unfortunately, Friedkin can't do
much about the implausible plot that follows,
in which the Marine commander, played by
the always-terrific Samuel L. Jackson, is
accused of slaughtering innocent civilians
(who actually were shooting at him and his
men). He must rely on an old Marine buddy--a
lawyer played by Tommy Lee Jones--to get
him through the jury-rigged court martial.
But the central premise--that an evil presidential
aide would perjure himself and destroy evidence
simply to maintain good relations with U.S.
allies in the Middle East, rather than defending
a highly decorated Marine colonel who risked
his life--is inevitably hard to swallow.
And the ending is even flimsier. --Marshall
Fine
SOC
Rating: 
The Rock 1996
 Units depicted: USMC Force Recon, Navy SEALs,
Special Air Service (Connery)
Plot:
A group of ex-Marines have stolen 15 VX gas
rockets and are threatening to launch
a lethal strike on the San Francisco Bay area
if their demands aren't met. Led by war hero
and living legend, Brigadier General Frank
Hummel (Ed Harris), the crack platoon has holed
up on Alcatraz, where they're holding 81 civilians
hostage. The U.S. government responds by sending
a troop of Navy SEALs on a secret raid, using
the labyrinth of tunnels beneath the island
as their entranceway. Their guide is the only
man ever to escape from the legendary prison:
ex-SAS operative, John Mason (Connery). Also
in the party is FBI agent Stanley Goodspeed
(Nicolas Cage), an admitted "chemical
superfreak" who has the knowledge and
experience to defuse Hummel's rockets.
SOC Rating:
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