Perhaps the most realistic war film ever

Rating: Null/10 (16 February 2002)

I'm a big fan of Ridley Scott's, my favorite movie of all time is Gladiator so I suppose I was a bit spoiled when I went into this, expecting more personal drama than I ended up getting. On the kudos side, this is probably the most realistic war film I have ever seen in my life, even moreso than the opening of Saving Private Ryan. From the moment the first helicopter goes down it's pretty much a non-stop gun battle until the last ten minutes of the film. It easily sets a record for the most gunfire in any film I have ever seen in my life.
It's been said that this movie is more American propaganda, and to some extent I agree, but not entirely. The Americans in this film were by no means superhuman, and were shot up and killed and beaten and for the mojority of the film were running around with their tails between their legs just looking to get the hell out of there. Yes, at times this film was indeed pretty tightly wrapped in the American flag, but what movie isn't? I've personally come to expect that from most films now. They are, after all, paid for and made for Americans by and large. No, they didn't list the names of the Somali's killed, but then they probably didn't have the records available either. They knew the names of the Americans killed.
All in all, it's a pretty good film, but for me it was no Gladiator. Personally, I would have liked to have seen the film through the eyes of two or three main characters, because I found keeping track of all the characters in this a little too much. But if you like war films, this one is not to be missed.