Intense

Rating: 9/10 (12 January 2002)

A definite must-see. Anyone who complains about the plot has a screw loose. This film's plot was written 8 years ago by 200 US servicemen and about 5,000 Somalis. Having read the book, this is an faithful recounting of what happened during those 18 hours. The battle scenes are intense, and the dialog, while someone called it "cliche", is poignant and dramatic when it needs to be. These men were in an intense battle, there was no time for deep conversations. The only complaint is that it was tough to figure out which character was which, and why we needed to know who they were. That, and a little more background into why the soldiers were so seemingly unprepared for this mission (that they had done this type of operation several times before, always without great incident, and that the US had recently carried out a rocket attack on Adid's clan leadership that killed 50 or so political figures, moderates included, and enraged the residents of that part of the city.). Other than that, this is a visceral view of what those soldiers went through that day, and what other US soldiers will have to go through if we ever get into this type of conflict again. 8.5/10.