Rating: 
Summary: classic
Review: a classic movie. a classic cast. its one of the finest war movies ever made. its perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Very good and intense movie
Review: Viewing this DVD with my home cinema was a very intense
experiance. The bullets rate in this movie is so high,
that at some point I felt like I'm going to take one of those
at my back... ouch!
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best war movies...
Review: Intersting that certain folks who give bad reviews for this movie does not apparently realize that it was the Army involved during this battle (and obviously the movie) rather than the Marines. Anyway, this movie is one of the sharpest, most compelling war movies to have been made. Ridley Scott's hyper-direction makes it appear as if you were on the ground with the Rangers, Seals and Delta Force. Many complaints were voiced over the apparent lack of characterization of the many troops who were fictionalized during this movie. I disagree and am actually glad that we didn't have to sit through another "Joe" showing us a picture of his girlfriend back home only to see him blown up minutes later. Personally I am looking forward to the Special Edition version of this movie rumoured to be released early next year. Bottom line: good movie, ultra violent, views like a documentary, tough to watch because of the realism, nice reference quality sound for your home theater.
Rating:
Summary: Replying to the first reviewer...
Review: Black Hawk Down is an excellent movie, and is anything BUT recruitment propaganda (BTW, the movie's main characters are Airborne, Rangers, and Delta Force---the Army, not the Marines). This film captured the horror of urban warfare in much the same way Saving Private Ryan captured the D-Day invasion. War is not pretty, not glamourous, and is definitely nothing any sane person would want to partake in...
Rating: 
Summary: Good Vitues, strange location
Review: This movie delivers a lot of good virtues any american (& non-American) soldier must have, but I have some observes about the location, there was a somali taxi driver praying "Salat Al-Maghreb" (Sunset prayer) he was facing the ocean and the sun was there, but how?!!! Somalian coast (in the South where the capital is) faces E/SE so who brought the sun there!!??That will lead Us that it (coast) was facing W/NW, and if watch the movie again we`ll notice the the streets` signs show the word "Zanka" and that how Moroccan calls "Street", so according to what I noticed the Location was Morocco (or Maybe Mauritania) not Somalia, so Mr.Director why don't you be frank with us and refer to the location?
Rating:
Summary: Ryan Shughart & Gary Gordan
Review: This is by far one of my favorite movies of all time. This movie depicts things that alot of people really don't know all that much about. I remember I was 12 when this happened, so when it came out in theaters that was a first for me. I thought this movie displayed the courage and honor that these men had for themselves, the man next to them and their country. I think the most moving part of the whole scene was when Ryan Shughart and Gary Gordan - The two Delta Force snipers that went down by themselves to try and save Mike Durant. These two men went down to try to save him by themselves, knowing they were going to die. I can't imagine what that must have felt like. Knowing that you were going to leave your wife and children behind to try and save the man next to you. I would like to believe that I would be able to do the same - know I was going to die and do it anyways. That will be burned in my brain forever. I don't know what else I can say about this movie. It is scary to watch a movie like this and know that what I am watching really happened. But I feel I have been honored to bare witness to what really happened in Somali that day.
Rating:
Summary: Realism at its diabolical best...
Review: Ridley Scott is a master at capturing the essence of a particular story's time, place and atmosphere. The future dystopian world of 'Blade Runner'; the ancient Roman world in 'Gladiator'; middle America in 'Thelma and Louise'; the terror of deep space in 'Alien' - the list continues as this director ranks as one of the best in the business. Scott did not disappoint with ~Black Hawk Down~ because the realism of this film was at times extremely painful to watch. There were moments in the viewing where I actually felt part of the action - an intense fear in the guts and dizziness that a soldier could well experience before plunging into battle. There is no wonder that this film won an academy award for best editing because the action flowed seamlessly to the point of saturation then, suddenly, when you think you've had enough, it pours on a little more just to make sure you get the point. The editing is a work of art. I came away from the film emotionally and physically drained as if I had fought along side these courage's men. There was an oddity in this film that is difficult to overlook: Somalia's lack of food (this was the reason U.N. forces were there in the first place) but an obvious over abundance of weapons. The country's population are starving, food is a scarcity, but automatic weapons and rocket launchers abound. There is a specific image in the film of a little Somalian boy, thin as a rake, obviously starving, walking down the road with rockets strapped to his back and a machine gun in his hands. I can't get this strange image out of my mind... ~Black Hawk Down~ is a soldier's story, fighting to keep themselves and their comrades alive - a well-used and popular theme in war films. This is also the romantic aspect of war we continue to dwell upon to somehow justify or at least divert our attention away from the fact that war is simply mass murder. This film communicated to me that we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that courage may be a virtue but war is essentially death and destruction. This important film, despite its focus on the soldier's courage, which is a highly commendable virtue, still sends the message convincingly that war is about suffering and death, and does so in a highly realistic fashion. This is superb filmmaking.
Rating:
Summary: American Propaganda? Please.
Review: ... this has to be the most historically accurate war film ever. ... BHD is an accurate, gritty, realistic, and intense vision of ground-level modern combat. It is THE best portrayal of special forces on film, and is definitely the most amazing war stories ever told. ...just say "This movie stinks" and run away.
That's all.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: It is a shame that such a great movie comes from such a horrible real-life event. Everyone should be made to watch this film as well as read the book. I finished the book about a month ago and the film stays 99% accurate. Both are a must!!
Rating:
Summary: It's All About The Men Next To You
Review: "Black Hawk Down" is a gritty, uncompromising depiction of the events that took place in Mogadishu, Somalia when elements of Task Force Ranger and the Delta Force attempted to seize two members of Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid's cabinet in a raid meant to least no more than 30 minutes. The operation came close to being pulled off successfully, until the downing of one of the Black Hawk helicopters throws the entire mission into disarray. The movie is based on Mark Bowden's book of the same name, though whereas Bowden does give some of the Somali point of view in his book, the film focuses squarely on the American Rangers and Deltas fighting for their very lives. Some of the characters in the film are composites of two or more people. For instance, Sgt. Eversmann, portrayed by Josh Hartnett, did not make it with his "chalk" to the Wolcott crash site, but instead rode with McKnight's ill fated Humvee convoy as it drove in vain throughout the streets of the "Mog" trying to get to the crash site. This movie is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart, with its frequent depictions of battlefield gore. Once the raid itself begins about 40 minutes into the film, BHD basically becomes one nonstop battle scene that some viewers may find exhausting. The performances from the ensemble cast are mostly good, including Josh Hartnett as the aforementioned Sgt. Eversmann, Eric Bana as Delta sniper Hoot (except for one brief slip, you would never know he's Australian), Tom Sizemore as Col. McKnight, William Fichtner (who is one of the greatest character actors around) as the Delta Sanderson, and Sam Shepard as the beleaguered General Garrison struggling to save his men from being massacred. The only performance that I found less than convincing was the actor who played the Ranger Capt. Steele. I think the actor who plays him is also Australian, and he didn't sound authentically American to me. Visually, the movie is stunning, which is a hallmark of Ridley Scott's films, and there are many images that will stay with the viewer after watching the film. The scene where the choppers are flying over the beach of Mogadishu to drop off the Deltas and the Rangers may remind some of the helicopter attack scene in Apocalypse Now, the scrolling shot of the mosque at dawn as the call to the Muslims to pray is sung out, the strafing run by the choppers in the dark, the Somali man walking across the street with a dead child in his arms, and countless others. The soundtrack is eclectic, switching from rock music to Middle Eastern sounds and vocals. The theme of the movie itself can best be summed up by two lines uttered by Hoot, "Once that first bullet goes past your head, politics and all of that s--- goes out the window" and "It's all about the men next to you." BHD is not about whether our action in Somalia was right or wrong, it's about the men who fought there who find themselves forced to rely on their training and each other in order to survive in a desperate situation. As for the DVD itself, it is sadly lacking in special features, though I understand a special edition is coming out next year. But the movie itself is definitely worth seeing to understand what our soldiers went through on that day, and for its unglamorous depiction of the ugliness that is war.
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