Riveting action with actors that look the same

Rating: 7/10 (15 January 2002)

Blackhawk Down.
By the sound of the title you probably think it's a movie about some Native American tribe fighting the cavalry or something else. But it's about American soldiers unexpectedly fighting endless hordes of armed local people in Somalia.
On October 3, 1993 a group of elite soldiers consisting of the top secret Delta Force, Rangers and the 160th SOAR helicopter squadron conducted their mission of capturing Mohd. Farrah Aidid's important people in Mogadishu, the capital city of (if there is a capital) Somalia. The fighting was supposed to have lasted only an hour, but two choppers (well, in reality four but the other two made it back) were shot down and the escape vehicles they were supposed to use got lost. They had to stay over for the night and got 19 men killed in action.
If you have read Mark Bowden's book of the same title, you probably have a general idea of what the fighting is like and what the city is like. And Ridley Scott managed to visualize it in such manner that the scenes are pretty much exactly like you pictured. Except for the first helicopter crash site, which is very wrong.
The cast is pretty good, especially Tom Sizemore who is always natural in a uniform. But it is the ensemble which stood out. If you look for individual performances, you may be disappointed.
If you haven't read the book you're probably confused with the characters under fire. You can only recognize them by the names on their helmets, but not all of them put their names on it. You'll probably have trouble putting names on faces, but as the story rolls it can be overlooked.
The movie shows a lot about the US Army elite units, the camaraderie within them, the rivalry between them, and their relatively new creed, which is "leave no man behind". I take it this is born after the experiences of Vietnam...
All in all, this is a good movie especially that it is based on a true story. I have been interested in US special units, and after watching this I grew more respect for them. You probably will too. Go see it, it's worth every penny.
7 out 10 stars for matching this readers' visualizations and -3 stars for discrepancies in reality.