Second best war movie ever

Rating: 10/10 (10 July 2002)

To start with: I have never seen a better war movie than 'Das Boot'. But, Black Hawk Down is a very close second best in my all time list. (maybe after seeing it a couple of more times, it will be my personal best...). Except 'Das Boot', none of the known war movies deals better with the subject 'war'. The only movie which is able to stand in Black Hawk Down's shadow is Saving Private Ryan (only because of the beach part, after that, spr is to my opinion a little bit over the top).
What makes Black Hawk Down such a great movie? Well, I think it is the intensity of this movie. In war, people die. Because of the fact that death and war are going hand in hand, it is not possible to make a good solid war movie without showing the horror caused by war. Due to the amount of realistic violence and gore, it will make you think about the terror war brings to people all over the world. Because of the fact that Black Hawk Down is based upon a real story, it makes you even more think.

Some people complain about the lack of character development. well, I think that war does not need character development! War does not need deeply developed characters, only fighting skills count. Other people complain about the patriotism in this movie. This movie does a great job in showing the way in which the Americans tried to reach two downed Black Hawk hellicopters. And, offcourse, the Americans are portraied as the heros, but, in this case, they actually are the heros! Those brave men where fighting for their lives in order to establish peace in a foreign country... so why complain about patriotism? 9.9/10