Rating: 
Summary: True Heroes
Review: This movie is an amazing recount of the battle of Mogadishu where US special forces were involved in a day long battle against what seems like the entire city of Mogadishu. There are excellent potrayals of the desperation of the situation and the heroics involved when the special forces, particulalrly the Rangers try to live up to their motto of Leave No Man Behind. I know that many critics were uncomfortable with the racial overtones, basicaly every soldier is white and the Somalis are all black but this is based on pure fact. Indeed every special forces soldier in the Mog was white, in fact at the time 97% of the special forces were white. This is stated in the book several times, but for some reason, critics were still uncomforatble with it. Enough of that, SEE this movie it is AMAZING and does not flinch from the subject matter. If Blood and gore are not your cup of tea or if you squirmed through the first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan then this may not be the movie for you, otherwise if you like action, excitement, true life drama then this is it. BTW the Music is also very mood setting, a great mix of techno and ethnic music.
Rating:
Summary: Great War Film Hands Down...
Review: I just got done reading the 1 star reviews of this film and they truly must be a bunch of liberal, tree hugging, anti- war freaks. This movie is realistic in content and special effects, entertaining, heart pounding and also heart touching. It definitely shows the military of the United States of America to be the kick ass super-power military that it is! Sad; however, is that it also shows the unappreciative citizens in foreign countries and how they abhore and hate the USA (yes I'm referring to Somalia, Kuwait, Liberia, France, and the list goes on...). Despite the many efforts we have made to help these people in the past and help even today via military assistance or aid they despise us. Not long after Black Hawk Down came out in the US, a boot leg copy ended up in Mogadishu, Somalia, the actual site where the real event took place. You know what the Somalia citizens there watching the movie cheered for? It wasn't the bravery of the US soldiers trying to rescue downed helicopter pilots and sacrificing their lives. It was the death of American service men and the shooting down of the 2 Black Hawk helicopters. Just goes to show you that you can't help those who don't want your help. Overall, this movie kicks...and if you want to see a true, yes I said true, representation of how the USA military kicks...go see this great flick. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD!
Rating:
Summary: RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!!
Review: I HIGHLY recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in seeing what Rangers and Delta Force are trained to do. This movie is the best depiction of the scenarios we have faced and triumphed. I hope that talented directors like Ridley Scott can direct future movies involving the fighting soldiers of our Special Operations community. This is truly a collectible. The book is even better. RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Black Hawk Up
Review: Josh Harnett's other war movie recently released was Ridley Scott directed motion picture "Black Hawk Down". The movie is about the US Delta Forces and US Rangers mission to capture some lieutenants from the band of Muhammad Farrah Aidid. During the movie, different things happen and turn a perfect mission into a perfect disaster. The movie is packed with lots of characters and lots of sad and funny moments, great sound and awesome visual effects. All this together makes the EXCELLENT movie called "Black Hawk Down". Two thumbs up for the movie!!! Excellent work Ridley Scott!! ALSO!!! if you loved "Black Hawk Down", don't forget to check out the Musical Score, written, composed and directed by Hans Zimmer, the genious behind the "Pearl Harbor" and "Gladiator" soundtracks and musical scores!
Rating:
Summary: Courage Under Fire
Review: Many reviewers have already praised this visually stunning, emotionally charged film about the mission that went wrong in Somalia in 1993, and about the heroic behaviors of the soldiers involved in the fierce combat that shouldn't be. Let me add a few things. First, many people would complain (rightly) that many characters are not distinguishable from others; so, if you are a fan of, say, Josh Hartnett, and expect to watch his acting, you're to be disappointed with the film. Indeed, many characters seem buried under the long series of street combat, but the result is understandable, considering the fact that the orignal book by Mark Bowden contains more than 100 people, which had to be reduced to less than 20 in number. The characters of the script, therefore, had to be made with amalgam of several counterparts in the real-life soldiers. The fact is that the screenwriter did a good job under this condition. And some may say (rightly again) that they are reminded of another film treating war as a subject matter, probably of "Saving Private Ryan" and "Pearl Harbor," and claim the resemblance between them and "Black Hawk Down." But, listen. I have seen many war films, but never saw a one like this, in that how the modern war technology is defeated is depicted with fearful reality. Look how US military helicopters are shot down by RPG (a manual missile device) by Somalian militia. Or see how the mob on the hot street are rushing, with fearlessness and hatred, to the shot-down pilots. Those sights you never witnessed in neither of "Pearl harbor" or "Saving Private Ryan." From the artistic viewpoint, the strongest part of the film is the dry touch of the photograhy by Slawomir Idziak, responsible those masterpieces of French cinema ("Blue" for instance). Fast-paced editing of Pietro Scalia ("The Gladiator") should not be missed, either. And finally, some people might see the patriotic tone in the film, and, to be sure, some scenes will justify these impressions. But, as far as I can judge from the film, these soldiers deserve to be called heroic. Of course, whether or not America should have sent them to Somalia is another matter, and it is exactly what the director Ridley Scott is asking us with this film.
Rating:
Summary: Black Hawk Down
Review: Im a 14 yr old male who is in love w/ helicopters And plan on being a pilot.So after seeing the previews,I couldnt wait to see the movie.I saw it after reading the book in less than 2 weeks and I thought it was an outstanding movie.
Rating:
Summary: amazingly accurate
Review: This movie followed the book excatly and when you finish seeing the movie you just feel like getting up and joining the army.
Rating:
Summary: You Are There...
Review: Other reviewers have correctly praised this movie for various reasons and I certainly do not wish to be redundant so let me now suggest why I admire this movie so much: It is among the very few war movies which enable those who see it to be "there" with the troops while they are directly engaged in mortal (sometimes fatal) contact with their enemy while enabling the viewer, at the same time, to have a perspective on the carnage which the troops themselves do not have. Sometimes we seem to be in one of the helicopters, suspended above the action; other times, we feel as if we are tagging along from street to street, never knowing if or when.... The production values are outstanding. The faces as well as the thoughts and feelings of those involved are almost always concealed. The plot does not so much develop as it evolves. The lucky ones escape and we accompany them, relieved and weary. The film ends, the credits roll, and then the house lights come up. We have "been there" but remain uncertain where the "there" is. This is a unique and compelling human experience. As with other war films such as Castle Keep, I am still struggling to understand what it all means to me. Was it all merely a dream or something more?
Rating:
Summary: Hard to watch, harder to look away
Review: I'm an 18-year-old, red-blooded American female, so it should come as no surprise that I went to see Black Hawk Down mainly because Josh Hartnett is in it (and, okay, he was gorgeous, and gave a brilliant performance) I'd read the book, and wasn't sure if the movie would do it justice, but I wasn't disappointed. As anyone who's read the book knows, plenty was changed, but the main story, the theme, and the message remained the same. The collective performances by the entire ensemble, the direction, everything about it was striking. Plenty of people complained about the lack of background, and how difficult it was to tell many of the charatcers apart, but to me, that just made the movie that much more realistic. I know people in the armed forces, and I've been told that THAT IS HOW IT IS. You go in, you follow orders, and sometimes you can't even tell who's on your side, let alone who an individual soldier is. As for character development? The whole point is that the soldiers, as a whole, ARE basically like on charcter. Lack of plot development? The battle IS the plot. Ridley Scott didn't spare the audience any of the horrific details, and didn't sugarcoat the truth, and deserves to be applauded for having the guts to lay the facts bare for the audience to draw their own conclusions. Should be required viewing for anyone even considering enlisting in the armed forces.
Rating: 
Summary: Reasonable
Review: This film is based on a real life event so that it is difficult to review. One can find that the events portrayed and the way that they are portrayed can become more important than the actual impact of the film as an entertainment. The reality of the operation portrayed by the film was that the United States sent some peace keeping troops to Somalia, a country which had broken down to endemic civil war and had virtually ceased to function. The United States forces formed the view that this problem would be solved if some of the more major war lords were taken out of the equation. This film is about an attempt to kidnap the most important war lord in Somalia General Adid. The plan of the operation was to drop some highly trained troops by helicopter around a building. They were to arrest the war lord and then a convoy of vehicles was to remove him to the United States base. The operation went horribly wrong with two helicopters being shot down and the road convey getting lost. As a result a number of American soliders were killed and their bodies mutilated and dragged through the streets by the Somalis. Other troops held out and were rescued by a force of Malaysians the next morning. The operation like any real life situation contained confused elements. On one hand there was the bravery of the soldiers on the ground, both the United States soldiers who went through hell and also that of the Somalis. Whilst the individual soldiers and pilots acted generally in a way that was beyond what could reasonably be expected of them the planning of the operation and the concept behind it was deeply flawed. The film caters mainly to an American audience and for that reason it works to show the bravery of the American's involved. There can be no argument with this as they surely were. However the film tends to oversimplify the conflict by demonising the Somalis and by not looking at the sheer stupidity of what those soldiers had to go through. The reality is that the various deaths were for nothing as the United States forces were quickly pulled out. There are some minor reconstructions of history to downplay the role of the Malaysians and to suggest that the Americans had a greater role in the rescue than they in fact had. If we leave aside these minor historical quibbles the film is surprisingly effective. It conveys a complex series of battles in a way that is clear and lets the viewer understand what is happening. The portrayal of the actual fighting is also reasonably accurate. (Apart from what is said above some scences featuring Eric Banna are also made up) The film is also quite long, yet it passes quickly and one does not really have a sense of the time one is viewing it. One of Ridley Scott's better outings in a while.
| 
