Misplaced comic relief and lopsided portrayal of a complex situation.

Rating: 5/10 (21 January 2002)

The only things that saved this film were the sheer drama of the actual events and the acting. The comic relief, provided by an idiotic near-deaf soldier, becomes increasingly out of place as the action progresses. The Somalis are portrayed as incompetent brutes who come out "ahead" by sheer force of numbers--a depiction which neither the actual events nor the book supports. Minutes of screen time are wasted introducing elements that never find their way back into the plot. For instance, the desk-clerk informs a rookie that Mogadishu is called "The Mogue," yet that term is never used in the rest of the film. Not a horrible film overall, but it could have been so much more.