Jason Isaacs talking into a walkie-talkie in Black Hawk Down.Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
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Chris McPherson
Published 43 minutes ago
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Quentin Tarantino has finally revealed his definitive list of the 20 best films of the 21st century — one pick per director — and it’s already lighting up conversations. The director dropped the ranking while appearing on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, where he spent time unpacking what mattered to him most as a moviegoer and filmmaker. Surprisingly, or perhaps less so, if you know his style, there were no arthouse picks. Instead, we saw films like Tony Scott's Unstoppable, Toy Story 3, Midnight in Paris and Zodiac.
And at the very top? Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down. The 2001 war epic was already acclaimed for its pulse-pounding realism, but Tarantino went one step further — calling it the greatest movie of the century so far. Lucky for cinephiles, it’s currently streaming for free on Pluto TV, making this the perfect moment to revisit or discover it. The movie was a real who’s who in early 2000s cinema as, along with Josh Hartnett and Tom Hardy, the project also included the likes of Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting), Jason Isaacs (the Harry Potter franchise), Eric Bana (Untamed), Hugh Dancy(Hannibal), Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings franchise), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones), Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan), William Fichtner (Prison Break), and others.
Why Does Quentin Tarantino Love Black Hawk Down?
Tarantino explained that the exercise wasn’t about consensus — it was about instinct, impact, and memory. As Bret Easton Ellis observed, the list reveals a taste obsessed with irreverence and entertainment value — films that are bold, aggressive, and stylistically commanding. Tarantino’s full reflection on his No. 1 pick is as passionate as you’d expect:
“I liked it when I first saw it, but I actually think it was so intense that it stopped working for me, and I didn’t carry it with me the way that I should’ve […] Since then, I’ve seen it a couple of times, not a bunch of times, but I think it’s a masterwork, and one of the things I love so much about it is […] this is the only movie that actually goes completely for an ‘Apocalypse Now’ sense of purpose and visual effect and feeling, and I think it achieves it. It keeps up the intensity for 2 hours 45 minutes, or whatever it is, and I watched it again recently, my heart was going through the entire runtime of the movie; it had me and never let me go, and I hadn’t seen it in a while. The feat of direction is beyond extraordinary.”
Now, Black Hawk Down may not have the reputation of Ridley Scott’s biggest blockbusters, but its craftsmanship has aged remarkably well, and Tarantino clearly feels strongly about it. It's also nice to see one of cinema's great auteurs enjoying a well made war movie for mainstream audiences.
Black Hawk Down is streaming now on Pluto TV.
Black Hawk Down
Like Follow Followed R Action War History Release Date December 28, 2001 Runtime 145 minutes Director Ridley Scott Writers Ken Nolan, Mark Bowden Producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Ridley Scott
7 Images
Jason Isaacs speaks into a radio as Steele in Black Hawk Down
Eric Bana as Hoot holding his rifle in Black Hawk Down.
Hugh Dancy as Kurt "Doc" Schmid in Black Hawk Down.
The soldiers gather for a briefing in Black Hawk Down.
The soldiers in a gunfight in Black Hawk Down.
Timothy A. Wilkinson in the middle of combat in Black Hawk Down
Josh Hartnett in Black Hawk Down wearing military gear and looking battered and bloodied.Close
Cast
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Josh Hartnett
SSG Matthew Eversmann
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Eric Bana
SFC Norm 'Hoot' Gibson
The story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.
Genres Action, War, History Powered by
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Black Hawk Down
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Quentin Tarantino
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