Intense action!

Rating: 7/10 (26 January 2002)

This is certainly the most intense movie in quite awhile. It is pure and simply a war movie without any frills whatsoever. We don't get to know much about anyone, which I think forces the viewer to look at the total picture's view of war and not get stuck on rooting for individuals.
The action scenes are realistic and so gritty that they frankly terrified me. I know I do not have the courage it takes to be a soldier. Added to that is the senselessness of the cause, and the stupidity born of arrogance to assume that Americans are super heroes and Africans are just another incapable enemy.
It chooses to look one sidedly at the conflict, which again forces the viewer to experience the hell these poor guys went through rather than be conflicted by objectivity (in a telling footnote we find out that 1,000 Somali's lost their lives to 19 Americans, and we're kept clear of the hell they went through).
This kind of an approach reminds me of the old Cowboy and Indian movies, where we root for the outnumbered white guys and the Indians are portrayed as layer after layer of killing robots. We never learn about the enemies rationale for hating us; we never see their heroism; we never see their humanity. We are now finding out what that kind of subjective view of the World can lead to.