It has all the right ingredients, but...

Rating: Null/10 (30 October 2002)

If you were to ask for a great director to direct a great war film, you may ask Ridley Scott to direct Black Hawk Down. He is a great director and Black Hawk Down is a great war film...
But...
The problem with war films is that you've seen 'em all. It's about good guys vs bad guys and heroes and shooting. The fact that Black Hawk Down is set in Somalia is the only thing that makes this different from, for example, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan or Hamburger Hill
UN Peacekeeping forces are under attack in the Somalian civil war of the early 90s. The good ol' USA send in their "elite" troops to counter. The motto of these guys is that they shall never leave a fallen comrade behind, so when one of their Black Hawk helicopters crashes right in the middle of a hostile zone, it's all hands on deck to get any survivors out
What then follows is an archetypal battle with the "good guys" being able to shoot straight and the "bad guys" missing with every other shot. It's beautifully filmed, as you would expect, and with sufficient gore to ensure its realism. The surreal moments as (some of) the soldiers reach the safe zone is possibly the best part of the film, but one is left with an uncomfortable feeling when the epilogue glibly states that 20 American soldiers lost their lives (it lists their names) - oh yes, and so did 1000 Somalians
The acting is great, the music is great, the story is great; one can even forgive the patriotism. But there's nothing new to see here
I'm glad I watched it - but I'm equally glad I borrowed it rather than bought it