Graphic, powerful insight to the chaos of war

Rating: Null/10 (4 November 2002)

Others have criticised the film for its lack of character development. To me, this adds to its realism. We barely know these guys before we see them fighting for their (and others') lives. And they're nearly indistinguishable in the way they behave - which is sort of the point: they're elite soldiers, trained to the point where they're interchangeably excellent at their jobs. The disasters, the successes, the bad judgments, the good luck, all reflect the (very real) randomness of war. Not the 'classic three-act' structure of conventional film.
Personally I found this a lot more credible than the storyline of "Saving Private Ryan" which felt like a rather clicheed plot laid onto very realistic war scenes.
Black Hawk Down left me stunned by the futility and waste of war, and the incredible conditions soldiers deal with and things they do. I'm in awe of what the men did. And I'm again stunned by humanity's greed, stupidity and callousness.