Rating: 
Summary: Good movie!
Review: This movie was an excellent. Some of the review I have read said it was not good. But I think thoes reviewers, either dont have a good choice in movies or just arnt "USA made" but I'm not even a ture american. I was adopted from India but now have lived in the US for 16 years. The movie is great. I highly suggest you rent it, then go from there.
Rating:
Summary: Best darn docu-drama !
Review: My wife and I watch this really great movie again every month or so, right along with Gladiator and U-571. I must declare right up front that I am a military veteran. What I see in these movies relates to an oft told description of bravery: It is ordinary people acting in extraordinary ways while under extreme stress, usually involving the overwhelming odds that they will lose their life.The movie sound and fury are absolutely marvelous. I have a widescreen (53") tv and the sound is hooked up to my stereo system driving two very healthy speaker systems. When the heavy .50 caliber machine guns start firing it's almost like being back on the firing range again. The heavies kind of Thud when they fire and the sound track picks that and all the other sounds up superbly. The visuals are just great too. I spent twelve years overseas, alot of it in the third world. This is what it looks like. Some scenes in the movie were pure "Hollywood," such as having to throw an infrared marker up on the roof to mark the bad guys. What a joke - anything on the roof was a bad guy! Oh well, you gotta allow Hollywood a few here and there. Otherwise there were so many 'good' scenes I could fill up another page or two. One of my favorites was the door gunner raining hot brass down on the Ranger from his electric gun. My wife didn't get it when the Ranger started hopping around trying to dig out the ones that went down his shirt. But I'll bet just about every Veteran did. Been there, done that - on the firing range with automatic weapons .I greatly enjoyed the portrayals by such a wide group of 'main actors' of the usual chaos of war and how men in combat deal with it. I developed an immediate love for Tom Sizemore's colonel. I would readily follow the man he portrayed into any place he cared to lead. His crack about "... well let's get it over then." Makes me chuckle every time the scene plays. I feel that the heart and soul of the American miltary man is displayed many times in the movie, but not any better than the scene of the two Deltas that dropped into the crash site to try and protect any of the crew that survived. That's based on the true story as told by the pilot who survived. I give this movie full marks for portraying the American miltary men as the brave and honorable people I knew while I served, and in years since. For those who stated that the movie should have developed why we were there, what was the state of the world politics, etc., etc. I can only surmise that they were either asleep that year or only old enough to watch Big Bird on Sesame Street. I can't imagine any literate American adult that doesn't remember at least the general facts of the debacle in Somalia brought to you by the Clintonistas and their female Quasimodo - Madeleine Half-bright. Oorah !
Rating:
Summary: Recent vent, Timeless Themes.
Review: The subtitle of Mark Bowden's best selling book is" "A Story of Modern War." The movie version, though limited in scope when compared to the book, does Bowden's account justice. For the most part, the film is historically accurate. Black Hawk Down is arguably the best war movie depicting a modern engagement, but are the themes of the film new? Let's take a look.The film's timeless theme is the loss of innocence. Before the mission, the Delta Force men were the hardened combat veterans, while the Ranger Force, though well trained, had yet to experience their baptism of fire. By the closing scenes, however, the Rangers had earned the respect of their more covert elite comrades, and all involved realised their lives would be forever changed by their ordeal.Like the protagonist of Steven Crane ( The Red Badge of Courage) and Erich Maria Remarque (All Quiet of the Western Front), soldiers have always agonized over how they will perform in battle. More precisely, how they will overcome their fear. For the young Rangers about to jump into utter chaos in Mogadishu in October 1993, these trepidations were all too real.The theme of camaraderie resonates throughout the film. This theme is neither new to the genre of war films, nor to the experience of military service. What makes a soldier advance under a hail of weathering enemy bullets? What makes a soldier continue to face death or possible mutilation to save wounded comrades? As the Delta sergeant relates: "It's all about the guy next to you...no one else can understand that." After the two Black Hawks went down, the surgical insertion had changed to a rescue mission; "no one gets left behind." There are always casualties in battle. Some of those who go out do not return. But no training can prepare those who survive to accept the loss of those who did not. The film conveys this emotion marvelously, in spite of the hardened Delta sergeant who grabs a quick bite and ventures out again, alone.The film is about responsibility more than duty. No soldier best illustrates this virtue better than a sergeant. The timeless NCO who provides the bridge between those who issue orders and those expected to carry them out. Sgt. Matt Eversmann undergoes a transformation from idealist to combat veteran. Not only does he have a job to perform, he also strives to get his men back alive. How he performs his job and deals with its consequences is a true testament to this young man's spirit. Note the list of men killed before the closing credits, most of those who died were sergeants. Out there in the thick of the action, caring for the welfare of their men, we always lose so many fine sergeants!The concerns other reviewers had with character development are warranted. I had the same criticism when I saw the movie in the theater. When experiencing their transformation from ordinary fun loving kids to battle hardened veterans, it is difficult to recall the "before" juxtaposed with the "after." This can be easily overcome with a second or third viewing of the DVD. It is for these timeless themes and historical accuracy that Black Hawk Down gets 5 stars and a well deserved thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: correction for weirdears
Review: hey it was possible in this movie that there was an all-white division. The Rangers were all-white men when they were in Moghadishu. You say how you know that there were other soldier's whose races weren't just white. Well you're wrong there, Task Force Ranger (Delta,Rangers and Nightstalkers) were all white men.
Rating:
Summary: PEOPLE LISTEN!
Review: I cannot believe people are saying this movie is racist. I hope they know one of the Americans killed in that battle happend to be African American. And the Task Force Ranger wasn't completely white either. Besides why do people have to say the enemy is "black", they were just people and by calling the "black" and the americans "white" you are only separating people into groups and saying that they are different because of how they look. Black people fight and have wars too, so do whites, and asians and every one else. One person wrote that they found it rediculous that somali women, men and along with children were al fighting.Maybe that person should actually read about what happend and find out that those kinds of things did happen,and it was a fair accurate representation of what really happend. Also remember the Americans went in to help feed the Somalis and to help them and they just returned our help with violence. Overall I think it is a great movie and tells the story of that day very well.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Buy......Yet!
Review: Before you make the regretful mistake of buying this version of Black Hawk Down, wait for the release of the special edition 2- disc set that should be coming out soon. It has a load of extras that this one is missing. My low rating is not for the movie, however. This movie is really good with great action sequences and storyline. I would suggest you see it if you haven't. Just hold your horses and wait a bit longer for the special edition to arrive. It will be worth it in the long run.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Modern War Movies of This Decade
Review: Definitely a great action movie, acurately re-creating the gritty, desert combat in the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia. Amazing sound: this movie is best seen with a huge woofer to capture all the amazing low frequency RPG explosions. Not only is the action amazing, but it is a sad, thought-provoking look at the horrors of war. Slightly gory, but not anywhere near a Private Ryan or a Windtalkers. My only gripe is a small one: there is an almost constant whine of sad African music playing in the background. But some people are into that stuff, and it is appropriate when depicting sorrow. In any case, this is a movie that any action lover or war buff SHOULD NOT MISS OUT ON. And if you like the movie, read the book, too.
Rating: 
Summary: I Walked Out
Review: I very rarely walk out on movies, no matter how boring or bad. But I walked out on this piece of trash. Ridley Scott's gloss on a sorry chapter in American military history may have had the good luck to cash in on America's new found patriotism, but it does so with a pointless jingoistic story, far too many characters to keep track of, no real message at all and an awfully racist sensibility that truly disgusted me. As has been said on this site before, 18 americans died. While certainly I don't want to minimize the sufferings of the real men and there families here, it is important to remember that many more Somalis were killed: 10,000 in the entire war, and roughtly 1,000 in the conflict described. While it's debatable that the 10,000 Somalis died as a direct result of US intervention, the smaller number definately did. This greater proportion of Somali suffering is all but ignored in the movie. Somalis are portrayed mostly as bloodthirsty and savage. And they are contrasted to the noble, self-sacrificing and ALL-WHITE American soldiers. (I find it hard to believe that, in today's army, there could possibly be an all-white division. In fact, I know for a fact that there wasn't in this war.) The scene where the mob of Somalis, including women and children savagly beat the disabled Americans to death was more than I could take and I walked out. Leaving politics aside, this is also poor moviemaking. The documentary style of the movie has been hailed as the most realistic portrayal of war on film. That may be, but this is exactly what makes this a poor film artistically. The bouncing of the camera makes watching this on a large screen painful. The plotting and dialogue (what little there is) is poorly drawn and the characters are at best two dimensional. I doubt that anyone who has only seen the film once can remember most of the names of the characters or differentiate one from another. As a result, the movie is pretty empty of any real emotional content. If you like war movies, there are many more that, while perhaps not as realistic, tell their stories much better than this tripe. Rent Bridge Over the River Kwai again, perhaps one of the most intelligent and thoughtful war movies of all time. Or Saving Private Ryan, Glory, Catch 22, MASH, or Full Metal Jacket. All of these movies in varying degrees capture more of the full contradictions of war and all have a defined point of moral point of view. You may not agree with that point of view, but at least they attack the subject intelligently. That's much more than can be said for Blackhawk Down.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated bloodbath
Review: How anyone can have respect for a director that directed such gorefests as Hannibal and Alien is beyond me. Scott doesn't dissapoint as far as smothering our faces in lots of blood and gore, but with nothing to say. Josh Hartnett is quite possibly one of the [weakest] actors working today. His performance is so bland and [weak] that it is particularly hard not to fast forward when he is on the screen. Black Hawk Downs cops Saving Private Ryan's(another disgusting simplistic war movie) editing techniques to attain "realism". The first 30 minutes of the movie are actually pretty good because Scott places the situation in context for the audience. For anyone who wants to know the real story behind Somalia situation I suggest turn to the History Channel which interviews the author and actual participants. Scott also paints the Somalis as faceless people with no real lives who are deserved to be exterminated. Scott tries to be apolitical, but ends up hitting us on the head with a sledgehammer about how America is great and everyone else is bad. Thin Red Line was a much more engrossing poetic expression of war with each character's motivations to stay alive brought out and allowed for a greater philosophical discussion about the nature of men and their role in the greater scheme of things. For the greatest war movie of all time anyone should watch Apocalypse Now which so overshadows this film that one can hardly even compare the two because Coppola's masterpiece is a much better discussion about the machinations at work during war.
Rating:
Summary: Accurate and gripping
Review: After reading the other reviews on this movie, I'm amazed. Some people gave it one star for the dumbest reasons. Some people say it's racist cause it portrays "black" people as the villains. Well, news flash: people that live in Somalia just happen to have that color skin, and since the movie is a true story, the "villians" in the movie do too. No reason they should have changed it to appease the whiny politically-correct snots. Others claim it was too violent. Another news flash: war does tend to be that way. I'm not sure what these people were expecting...Winnie the Pooh? Many of the movie's detractors apply the demeaning title of "war porn." This is a ridiculous and juvenile concept which demonstrates the narrow minds of those who use the term. We don't refer to "Trauma: Life in the E.R." as medical porn, do we? "C.S.I." is not science porn, is it? So why should a true story such as Black Hawk Down have such a derogatory title attached to it? Some people will be turned off by all the blood and killing, BUT THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED IN OCTOBER 1993! If you don't like that sort of thing, don't watch a movie about war! This seems to me to be common sense, but judging from some of the one-star reviews, not everyone is gifted with common sense. As far as doing what it set out to do, which is relate the horrible predicament of Army soldiers behind enemy lines in Somalia, the movie is unparalleled. Mark Bowden's book is brimming with detail, most of which transfers exquisitely to the movie screen. The courage and tenacity of the Army rangers and Delta Force is remarkable, and is brought to life magnificently by all the actors, in particular Ewan McGregor. The movie is relentless, and is still the most intense movie I've ever seen. It is definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you're looking for a perfectly accurate and breathtakingly gripping movie about the horrors of war, look no further.
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