An account of a true battle, no more, no less

Rating: 9/10 (4 February 2009)

When I saw the first trailer for Black Hawk Down, the tag line mentioned something about 100 American soldiers duking it out with 5000 unnamed combatants, then cut to scenes of Cameo clad GI's firing up and down blood covered streets, black helicopters crashing into the ground, and plenty of explosions. This was back when my heroes were the menagerie of characters portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenagger, and my understanding of war amounted to a one man commando raiding a compound, blow people up, shoot another sixty or so more, get wounded, then ultimately pull through to finish off the bad guy. Five years later, after I bought an Xbox and played a couple hundred hours of Call of Duty, Rainbow Six, and Ghost Recon, I realized modern special ops couldn't Schwarzenagger their way through every mission; they had to be smart. Then I watched Black Hawk Down, and I watched as a true special op played out before my eyes. US Army Rangers and Delta Force blow into town, nab a few of the warlord's Lieutenants, and prepare to blow right back out- until Super Six One gets its tail shot off, and crash lands in the town square. What happens next is a full day and night of urban war between a handful of highly trained yet very fallible American soldiers against hundreds of starving, angry militia men armed with Soviet Bloc hardware. War is an improper moniker for this movie. Some people complained about the lack of character development of the soldiers portrayed in the film. I say, what do you expect? Army Rangers and Delta Force on the job don't have time to be emotionally charged. As for some historical accuracies, then go buy the book and read it for yourself, learn something. And take Blackhawk Down for what it is: a well executed war movie that is actually true. And pay attention to the scene where Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon take on an entire mob of angry guerrilla's to save one pilot. If you're going to shun a movie based on a few historical inaccuracies even after seeing that scene, then consider yourself a small minded fool.