Rating: 
Summary: best war movie out there!
Review: Black Hawk Down has to be one of the best movies out there. It is just a well put together movie. I think what made it so good was the directing. Ridley Scott did a great job of doing a very daunting task- to intertwine the jobs of over a 100 Americans in a 2 hour film. Another strong point of this movie was the acting. You couldn't really tell any of the faceless soldiers apart so the new and old actors mixed together and you couldn't tell a difference acting wise.
The onscreen adaption of this movie was very well done. The book was more detailed but the screen writers of this movie did an excellent job of weaving every thing together in a short 2 and a half hour movie.
This movie was very, very intense and nerve racking and the only parts you could catch your breath in were the scenes with no fighting- which were few and far in between. The only thing that could turn people off, in my opinion is that basically the whole movie is fighting and more fighting with almost nothing interspersed, such as in the movie Saving Private Ryan.
As a DVD Black Hawk Down lacks special features and has not many exciting extras. But in my opinion I would buy this DVD just for the experience of seeing this great movie.
Rating:
Summary: This movie is historical, not action.
Review: To the other reviewer who gave this movie one star because it was "all action", I would like to respond that this movie was not meant to have a storyline like "We Were Soldiers". The movie was adapted from Bowden's book "Blackhawk Down" which gives a HISTORICAL description of events which took place in 1993.This movie is one of the most historically accurate war movies ever made, far surpassing Saving Private Ryan or even Band of Brothers. It's attention to historical detail is amazing. I'm sorry you didn't catch the story line; it was: "We go through this for you, and you don't even bother to thank us". My advice is not to watch this movie for entertainment (although it can certainly provide that). This is the real story of what happened to American soldiers in Mogadishu, 1993.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie!
Review: This movie is worth every buck. It's ot everything in it, It got action, and a great story. If you really like war movies this is just another great one to add with Full Metal Jacket and Platoon. This movie has great acting by Josh Hartnett. Buy This Movie It's Great!
Rating: 
Summary: Great film but not exactly gospel.
Review: Firstly this isn't some anti-american rant, I honestly don't know how the true story of this was reported in America when it happened but from news reports in the British media at the time, this film is far from accurate. Ridley Scott has recreated the event itself with his usual eye for the smallest details (though as one ex-ranger reviewer says, there are some compromises for the audience's sake). The sheer style and energy of the film is undeniable and the acting isn't all that bad (highest praise must go to australian Eric Bana). Unfortunately the one thing it lacks is the slightest hint of why the citizens of Mogadishu hated the U.S. Rangers so much. The tribe which the Mogadishans belived the U.S. were trying to install to power were the same tribe which for years had commited genocide against other indiginous trides of Somalia. The factor that really tipped the scales was that Blackhawk gunships, only the week before, were responsible for the strafing of unarmed civilians in the centre of Mogadishu. If these thoughts had not been scratching away at the back of my mind whilst watching then this could have been a wonderful story of heroism against impossible odds (and in many ways it, and the event itself, really was). Instead it is the kind of partiotic (the reviewer who advised people to watch Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now rather than this was probably being sarcastic, if not he is incredibly misguided) and fairly brave film-making that the later 'We Were Soldiers' can only hope to be.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated
Review: This movie had no story line and it was extremely confusing to follow the charecters. The effects looked pretty fake as well. I was extremely surprised since it got good reviews, but overall i would not recomend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Scott does it again!!!!
Review: I recently bought Black Hawk Down on DVD, and it was another Ridley Scott masterpiece. The first Scott movie I saw was Gladiator and it got me hooked. Black Hawk Down is very similar to Gladiator, in many ways, such as music and the bloody battles. The only movie that is bloodier than BHD and Gladiator is Saving Private Ryan. There were many subplots, I especially enjoyed McGregors, a soldier who wants to fight in "The Mog" and gets a little more than he bargins for when he goes into battle. The reason I gave BHD 4 stars is when I went to the trailers, there was none for the feature movie. It had Spider Man and The One. This only one minor complaint for an excellent movie. Keep it up Ridley.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Flick
Review: I don't even like Tony Scott usually. Most of his movies are very hollywood and unrealistic. Sometimes he's got something good going but he's got to do something idiotic or have a line in it that makes you feel like your in middle school. This movie was different. It was by far his most realistic war movie, and probably one of the best war flicks I've seen in awhile. It's as good as Platoon, or Full Metal Jacket, etc. I wouldn't have put Tom Seizmore in this, he was good in Saving Private Ryan, but he looks more like a mafia gangster than a modern day solider, in my opinion. I will say though that he did good in it. This was so much better than most war shows. Most usually give one line comedy punch lines and the soldiers usually are the size of professional wrestlers. In real life this just isn't so. I might even go so far to say this is Scott's best movie. He did some good stuff in the past BUT I like realistic stuff. I'm not into to Sci-Fi. This is one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. It also shows a very clear message towards where we are now, and what we were then as a country. There's FAR too much "tolerance," regardless of whose in office. It's been ten years since this nearly and we still act the same. Our war policy shows weakness in every form, and this event proves it to the letter.
Rating: 
Summary: Video Game
Review: If there was ever a movie to be called a guy flick then this is it in its purest sense. The entire movie was nothing but gun battle after gun battle with very little dialogue in between the characters. I am not adverse to fighting in movies but I would like to see some character development and dialogue. Saving Private Ryan is a good example of this. To be frank BHD reminded me of a video game. The only pluses I am going to give it is due the direction and cinematography. Ridley Scott is like painter, and film is his canvas which makes the visuals sheer delight. But that is the only good thing I can say. I would only recommend this film to guys and video game afficionados out there who like explosions, gun fights and loud noise- and who really don't care for a story.
Rating:
Summary: Good, with some caveats...
Review: While Black Hawk Down is, by and large, a good retelling of the Operation Restore Hope debacle of 1993, there are a few quibbles, assuming that Mark Bowden, the author of the book "Black Hawk Down," got things correct (with the understanding that doing so is quite a challenge, given the subject material.)
1. Staff Sgt. Eversmann wasn't holed up near Wolcott's downed Blackhawk, which is where the movie places him and his squad. They were evacuated with Col. McKnight's column.
2. Ranger Captain Steele gets unfairly pilloried in the movie, being portrayed as an overbearing martinet. The other Ranger commissioned officers are also given short shrift as well. (I don't recall seeing any of them, other than McKnight.)
My recommendation for anyone interested in the events of October 1993 in Somalia would be to get the book. While the movie is good, having read the book will give you more insight into what happened.
Having said this, the movie is still worth a go. For those who do not recall or have never seen the images of dead American servicemen being paraded through the streets of Mogadishu, the visuals of the movie may be more evocative than the book's narration.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: After reading the reviews posted here, especially the negative ones, all I can think is: so this is where decades of hyper-dogmatic, unthinking liberalism have led us. The United States undertakes a humanitarian mission (however ill-conceived) and when attacked while attempting to apprehend some of those responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths by starvation, it is the United States who is "xenophobic" and "racist." I hate to tell all the brittle people out there who couldn't bare the sight of the Americans shooting Somalis simply beacuse the latter were black, but this is a true story. Ridley Scott couldn't just rearrange facts and have the operation take place in Stockholm against the Swedes. I hate to say it but there are some people in Africa who are not good people, just like you would find anywhere else. To think otherwise is as racist as you purport the movie to be. And as for the film maker portraying the Somalis we fought as marauding savages, well the truth hurts. It happened this way. Talk to anyone who was actually in Somalia at that time. The vast majority of the country were just trying to live and were actually being oppressed by the people we fought. But apparently the color of their skin obsolves some Somalis from any guilt. It is a truly tragic state of affairs when so many people do not have the requisite moral depth to tell right from wrong, and try to hide their deficit behind a wall of "nuance." See this movie and decide for yourself. For me, I walked away in awe of the skill and sacrifice on the part of the US soldiers.
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