Black and White (5/10)

Rating: 5/10 (26 February 2002)

(I saw this in the theater, YMMV)
I had heard how great this film was, that some people called it the greatest war film ever. Although I knew that was very unlikely to be true, I was shocked at how bad this movie was.
The first, and largest, problem is the latent racism of the movie. As has been pointed out numerous times there is a creepy racist feel about the film as wholesome, All-American white boys mow down savage, thoughtless black men. Not a single Somali is portrayed with any depth. Adid and his followers are relegated to props for the army to shoot. It is difficult to appreciate this point without seeing the movie.
The next problem is supposed to be it's strong point. The violence is so stylized, it has no depth. I never felt anything for any of the characters. For one thing, except for Tom Sizemore and Ewan McGregor, I had a difficult time telling the actors apart once they were covered in blood and grime. In addition, I never felt the frustration of the soldiers as they struggled to find the crash site. There was just one firefight after another. One part of the movie that does work is when two army snipers make a request to guard the wounded pilots of the second Blackhawk helicopter crash (erm, yes there are two Blackhawks that go down).
Finally, the script is just bad. This movie jerks the "get the boys out" and the "leave no man behind" chains throughout the entire movie. In the few parts of the movie where nobody is shooting at something, the writing is so corny it's painful.
Skip this movie. There are much better war films to rent.