Rating: 
Summary: Black Hawk Down- An american classic
Review: This is how to do an adaptation of Mark Bowdens excellent book.
Bowden started to write a script and some of the scenes he wrote is still in the movie.
But it's Jerry Bruckheimer that we should thank for this piece of american cinema. After such a fantastic movie like "Top Gun" that really showed us how american fighter pilots kicked russian [butt] during the cold war.
Now he put up money for a two and a half hour movie that accuratelly shows how Rangers and Deltas was sent to Mogadishu Somalia during 1993 to put a stop to that no good warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid. They were going in to capture some of Aidids top men when the operation went bad. First young rookie Blackburn fell from a helicopter and then a Black Hawk got hit and went down. The americans were ready to pull out because their mission was over and now had to go back in to save the crew of the downed Black Hawk. Ridley Scott puts us right into the battle carnage with the most realistic violence ever seen on film. One of the best scenes is when Delta Operator Daniel Bush wounded from the first helicopter crash takes out a number of somali militia by himself with bullets riping into the ground and his arms and legs while RPG's fly through the air just missing him. The other one is when the pilot of the second crashed Black Hawk is attacked by dozens of somalis and despite his broken legs he picks up an H&K Mp5 in one hand and put eight of them. Not to forget the heroism of Delta snipers Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart when they went in to save him and end up fighting a whole mob of somalis increasing the bodycount. In a horrible scene Shughart is murdered by the evil somalis.
After this they go after the pilot who is now out of bullets and faces certain death.
In the end, "nineteen americans lost their lives and thousand somalis got killed" (but they had it coming messing with the great UNITED STATES of AMERICA, and the somalis are scum anyway so who cares right?). In the end with all the support this movie got we can expect it to become a true american classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Overated,,, big time.
Review: If this movie had been released 3 years ago, or the day after the incident itself it would not have received such recognition. Write this one off to hysterical patriotism cause this movie ain't that good.OK, the action sequences are terrific. The problem is, this entire movie is a non-stop action sequence from beginning to end. The producers violate the #1 rule and that is to "involve your audience." We dont know these charachters, we don't really understand the situation, and we don't know the enemy or their motivation. And we sure as hell dont know why American troops are there to begin with. And I wish I had seen the ending, but I went to sleep 4 times during this thing and I dont think it's worth another shot. 3 Stars, and I'm being kind.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie
Review: This movie's i can't say is my favorite war movie but is probably in my top 10. It's not a big Josh Hartnett video, he is not a huge character. I have also done research on the problems in Somalia and this movie is very accurate. It portrays this perticular event very well and doesn't add extra stuff on the side like the romance that Josh Hartnett had in Pearl Harbor. It is a good movie and i'd give it a 4 1/2 rounded up to 5.
Rating:
Summary: ehhh..
Review: I admit for the situation the movie is depicting it's hard to say that I didn't care. I respect the situation, and the men who put their lives on the line. But this movie was all action. Which can be good....if you give a damn about any of the actors. I seriously didn't care about any of them. A little bit more character development would've been nice.
Rating: 
Summary: Nobody gets left behind--just like Lilo and Stitch!
Review: This unapologetically violent war movie achieves something almost impossible for the genre: Ridley Scott's latest work of genius (one that totally makes up for this year's absymal Hannibal) depicts an unflinching, brutal battleground where anything that happens feels completely realistic, but makes sure not to leave fans without frequent glimpses of Scott's elegant directorial flourishes. Aided by poetic cinematography and excellent editing by Pietro Scalia, Scott ably tells the tale of one terrible October day in 1992 when American troops under the United Nations enter Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, and attempt a probe into the city to capture the country's corrupt leader. The result is a bloodbath that begins when one a Black Hawk (an American helicopter model) is shot down and a rescue of the possible surviving passengers becomes the primary mission of the day. The result is the best war movie of the year, and the very best made since Terence Malick's The Thin Red Line, with a giant ensemble cast that features standout performances by Josh Hartnett (who, interestingly enough, also appeared in the worst war movie of the decade, Pearl Harbour) and William Fichtner
Rating:
Summary: great
Review: wonderful beond reason! all action! my favorite war movie ever!
Rating:
Summary: A parallel to the Light Brigade?
Review: Unlike other modern war films, this movie did not seem to focus exclusively on the individual. Although we recognize some actors whenever they appear, like Tom Sizemore or Josh Hartnett, the focus is on the situation. That situation, here, is the battle in Mogadishu rather than the entire police action, or war in general. Within the streets, small accidents happen and some communications are clear. Regardless, the American troops continue to move through the battle with one, personal, directive: Leave no one behind. As a result, more soldiers are injured or die, and more assets are expended. For what cause? The main objective was accomplished, so why all the waste? This is where the movie, to me, parallels Tennyson's tale of the Light Brigade. Even though the troops were being gunned down, they maintained the principle of obeying orders. With the events of this movie, the same idea is here. The film seems to serve as homage to an incident that seemed like a mistake. I would recommend seeing the movie.
Rating:
Summary: About Time
Review: This is a documentary-like presentation of the Ranger/Delta incident in Somalia. The main good feature of the movie is that it shows the Rangers and Deltas doing their job under extremely difficult circumstances and demonstrates that the casualties taken were actually light considering the situation. Not that the mission couldn't have been carried out better but the grunts in the field did great. Now that all that is said the movie is also very sad. One does not have a feeling of success or accomplishment at the end but pride is definitely in the picture. Many said the movie was too documentary-like and that the human interest was missing. But I believe for many it was too much that the U.S. military was presented in that particular light. People should just realize that it was a no win situation and take the movie for what it is. Another reason that many in Hollywood thought it was too documentary-like is that the movie does not contain any of the typical Hollywood anti-war scenes/subplots.
Rating:
Summary: War Porn of the Higest Quality
Review: Ridley Scott is one of the finest film directors of all time, an expert technician whose formal training as a painter has never deserted him. Unfortunately, like many technicians, he's oblivious, or wilfully ignorant of some of the wider issues that surround his work. Black Hawk Down is based on a well researched history book of the same name that describes a special forces operation in Somalia in 1993 that went horribly wrong. A simple "in, out" arrest and capture task intended to take less than an hour turned into a chaotic 18 hour battle that killed 17 elite soldiers, wounded more than seventy more and killed several hundred Somali militia and civilians including many women and children. As we've come to expect from Scott, this film is wonderful to look at, by turns exhilerating, frightening and (to this cowardly inexperienced civillian) seems very realistic. War films are replete with cliches, but very few are encountered here, in fact the standard uniforms, equipment, haircuts, and language of the American soldiers make them hard to differentiate, and emphasise they are a team composed of interchangable members. This must be deliberate since at the start of the film we're introduced to a lot of characters but aren't given much background information on anybody. This leads to the first major problem - since we don't really know the characters, we don't really really care much about them, despite a variety of horrible fates that await them in the backstreets of Mogadishu. Here and there there's a flicker of interest, of sympathy, or of humour, buts precious little to base a judgement on. The second major problem is the imbalance in the entire presentation; namely that each American death is treated as the tragedy it is, while barely a second or two of compassion is displayed towards any of the Somali militia who die like flies while trying to engage their better trained, better equipped American opponents. In some ways this is inevitable, given our point of view and the realities of commercial film making. But none the less, unlike the original book which took some pains to explain the Somali position and describe the experiences of some militia members in the battle, nothing much makes it to the screen here. At worst, Black Hawk Down reminds you of an updated "Zulu" which also featured a tiny force of whites (but with superior weapons) against thousands of fanatical yet poorly armed blacks. Most of the time it rises above that, but a simnple scene or two (perhaps Somalis grief over their dead) would have dismissed the notion outright. Three stars then, perhaps a fourth for this excellent DVD which offers an superb alternative long ending sequence (which is very powerful and satisfying) and some excellent commentaries from Ridley Scott himself, the writing team, and veteran soldiers who actually took part in the battle itself.
Rating: 
Summary: I'd give it zero stars were that possible.
Review: Summary of the movie:
>>>Bo-da-da bo-da-da blau blau blau! "We're down." Bo-da-da bo-da-da blau blau blau! "We're being over-run!"<<<
That's it! Repeat the above seven-thousand times and you have the whole move. No need to waste any time watching it.
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