An underrated warfilm, by Bruckheimer no less!

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2002)

Superstar executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer and rising star Josh Hartnett rebound from the critically-panned Pearl Harbour to deliver the first movie about the conflict in Somalia. The movie is based on the SNAFU that caused a routine mission to last into a bloodbath that left 19 U.S. soldiers dead as well as 1,000 Somalis.
Like most "real" war films, the film shows the brutality of battle. This isn't a film for the weak at heart. The nasty results of war are apparent, as men are shot, blown away, disemboweled, and crushed in grisly detail, all done in a non-stop period throughout the film. The servicemen are as one as they try to get to the downed choppers so they can rescue any comrades still living. The film vividly depicts the despairity of the mission and the bleakness of Mogadishu.
Although there's not much character development, the movie uses the entire squad as one character, displaying them as brave, resourceful, and human, questioning what the whole point of military intervention of Somalia. Also, the Somalians are shown as just being as equal to the Americans in the good vs. evil cause, they have their own reasons for running their nation as they do and why they must fight the outside nations trying to overrun them.
With good performances by an interesting cast and excellent direction by Ridley Scott (a huge upgrade over Bruckheimer's stock directors) the film shines as another example of why war is hell. I'm sure Stanley Kubrick would have approved of this film.