My second favorite war film of all time

Rating: 10/10 (21 January 2018)

Ridley Scott blew me away with this tragic and heroic work on 1993s troubles in Somalia. Having been entranced as a ten year old boy viewing Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm, I found even the better war films since wanting by comparison. These two films are utterly differnt in myriad ways but this; they a perfect on their own terms, executed so well, and engrossing -- so engaging that one ought to go away only disatified that one could not have lived through it in person, although the violence is a bit much for REALLY wishing you'd been on the scene, with limbs flying about and such.
I can't adequately describe how this film was so effective, to even dare compare it to the incomparable Lawrence. Every scene just worked. So much battle action pervades, you might think, "what is the differnce between this and a Van Damme or Chuck Norris picture?' Fair question. All I can say is the acting is fantastic and the action scenes are directed by one of the truly brilliant auteurs of cinema. This is Ridley Scott in his finest hour, and if he were to make movies for a thousand years....THIS will be his best picture!