Gritty, but narrow look at a mission gone wrong

Rating: Null/10 (1 February 2002)

Blackhawk Down is a war movie without epic scope, and that is both its strength and its weakness. The movie covers a period of a few days in the lijfe of the war-torn capital of Somalia.
The United States, based on sketchy intelligence, launches a mission to capture some top officials of warlord Mohamed Aidid, whose stranglehold on the capital city of Mogadishu was preventing food from reaching starving Somalis.
After seeing what Jerry Bruckheimer did to Pearl Harbor, I'm personally grateful the lack of back story. Mercifully, Ken Nolan keeps the story focused on the action at hand. Ridley Scott has always known make his money show up on the screen, and this movie is no exception. The action is hellish and nonstop. Nolan's script and Scott's direction do an excellent job of conveying the chaos and horror of war, without having the film dissolve into incomprehesibilty.
My biggest criticism would be the lack of information about the U.S. effort in Somalia. This mission seems to exists in a vacuum. While it was a pivot in the U.S. involvement, it begs the question: If the Blackhawk had not gone down, would it have changed our involvement?
Nevertheless, this is a tight and focused movie, not for the faint of heart. Those looking for a film that lets you experience the chaos, horror and camraderie of combat need go no further. Those who are looking for an answer as to why that combat took place should look elsewhere.