Maybe one of the best war-movies of the last 15 years.

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 2005)

Ridley Scott is an almost 100% reliable director, so anytime you start to watch one of his movies you know he's gonna give you just what you expected, and that he won't disappoint you. "Black Hawk Down" is one of those cases. It tells the (real) story of an US Army troop which gets into Mogadiscio in order to oust some wicked Somalian generals, but this time the US got their fingers burnt, 'cause once they got into the downtown they realized that the zone was a terrible wasps' nest. From that moment on we assist to one of the more shocking and thrilling war-movies of the last years. Everything looks so goddamn real in "Black Hawk Down", it reminded me of the beginning of "Saving Private Ryan" with that camera that never quits on moving, it seems like the blood that comes out from the soldier's injured bodies is gonna splash you, you can even feel the heat (that yellowish tones of the photography increases the sensation of heat).
This time there are no fascist-reactionary-kingsoftheworld messages like in most of US war movies. This time the US army was there just to pay real help to the Somalian people. So it was the perfect situation to show the starkness and the brutality of war. No, there are no messages but "how absurd are wars" or "why do soldiers REALLY go to fight?".
The crew of actors is just OK: Josh Harnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor... anyway, they're not the most important thing at all in "Black Hawk". You don't even have time to think about the actors: you just see soldiers, you feel like you're watching a documentary, not a movie.
Two thumbs up for Mr. Scott. He made it again.
My rate: 8/10