Just saw it today, americans look away now.

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2002)

Subject: Black Hawk Down
What happens when the Americans f*** up big time?
They complicate things, and add carnage to the order of the day.
A seemingly simple mission. Go in, get the bad guys, leave. If the SAS did it it would have been covert and a small team. When the Yanks do it everyone gets a hand in Delta, Rangers, Air Corps, the lot. And what happens when they know you are coming, and they are ready? Lots of dead soldiers.
Directed by top brit Ridley Scott the film concentrates on the heroics of the soldiers, their integrity, their bravery and to be fair some skill while not entirely avoiding the mistakes that caused the whole SNAFU to happen.
The story is set in the Somalia civil war(oxymoron) and the trouble that followed the UN sending in food shipments, which were then hi-jacked on a regular basis. The Americans stayed to try and help by getting rid of the warlord behind the hi-jackings.
What follows is the sort of thing that Custer would have been proud off, 10,000 p***ed off somalians vs 81 US troops, any one need a quick math lesson here.
Some excellent direction leads to some excellent acting from the lead Josh Hartnet (Pearl Harbour, The Faculty) and a few notable actors (mostly Brits but with accents as shocking as Tom Cruise in Far and Away) put up sterling performances Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting, Pearl Harbour) Ewan McGregor, Jason Issacs (The Patriot, Armageddon), Tom Sizemore (Heat, Pearl Harbour, Red Planet), Ron Eldard (ER, Sleepers) and William Fichtner (Armageddon, Pearl Harbour). They are believable (for the most part) and for reasonably unknown actors with the exception of McGregor you wonder where they have been hiding.
As I tried to show most of them have worked with Jerry Bruckheimer and this probably helps their portrayal of a unit of troops and as you will see the one who hasn't (McGregor again) is one who has never been in the field with them.
Its worth seeing, not too long for the subject matter but i suggest not taking in a big drink, oh and concentrate, the first 5 minutes are narrative, but in subtitles, and it sets the whole scene.
Enjoy.