Obsessed With Film

Posted by Matt Holmes

Simon West, the man who read Mark Bowden’s novel BLACK HAWK DOWN and then pitched the idea of adapting it as a live-action film to Jerry Bruckheimer, is at it again with a modern warfare book… although this time he is set to direct it.

The book is THUNDER RUN: THE ARMORED STRIKE TO CAPTURE BAGHDAD by author David Zucchino, and it chronicles the pivotal moments of the April 2003 Iraq war and as the title suggests the capturing of Baghdad. The author of the book was from the Army’s 101st Airbone Division but found himself accidently switched to the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division and taking part of what is known as a “thunder run”.

In what is an extraordinary moment in urban warfare, less than 1,000 troops captured a city of 5 million Iraqi’s in one single military push into the city. The book is said to be terrific and you can read a long account of the events from the author by clicking here.

Despite deciding not to helm BLACK HAWK DOWN and letting Ridley Scott take the director’s chair (which resulted in a superb movie by the way if you haven’t seen it), West will helm this one. He has directed several films which include CON AIR, THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER, LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER and most recently the remake of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS.

Four forgettable movies, but the source material of those above were never as rich as this.

A pivotal moment in the Iraq war to be brought to the big screen, is West up to the job or should he have once again left it in the hands of a more accomplished director?

categories - Movie News

Further Reading

• Preview: TROPIC THUNDER

• TROPIC THUNDER trailer

• TROPIC THUNDER scribe writing IRON MAN sequel

• TROPIC THUNDER fake trailers?

• Universal to tell us about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

1 Comment »

1. I’m not sure this movie should even be made, given the current climate. I mean if G.I. Joe has to be politically-correct because of some perceived potential foreign backlash then how do the studios think this flick will be received?

   And it’s one thing to do a film glorifiying the US military, quite another to highlight the same group for this war in particular. And citing that Baghdad is a city of five million sounds impressive, but it wasn’t the civilians the US Army had to take on (that wouldn’t happen until later, as we all know) it was the Republican Guard, and from what I saw on TV they didn’t exactly make it into the Battle of the Bulge for Uncle Sam’s boys.

   I’d let the project go if it were me. Iraq is not Somalia. And this isn’t 2001 either.

   Comment by JaySmack | October 6, 2007

Leave a comment