Realistic and truthful

Rating: 9/10 (16 January 2003)

Unlike most films of this genre, the emphasis in black hawk down is not to glorify war but to question it. I was relieved to see a great deal of effort had gone in to re-creating an event rather than patronising the viewer by over dramatising it. The film could easily have blemished the deceased soldiers names but handled the concept in a very respectful and ultimately dignified way. Those guys went through a mountain of crap and the film made me realise this. Effectively the film is an all out shoot fest pretty much from the word go, but i think the lack of bravado and cliche helped the effect dramatically.
It is good to see casting taking British actors seriously for once and not just turning them into the bad guys. Afterall, most of the cast were British and of a Shakespearian origin (maybe Ridley Scott had something to do with this...).