great action, but with typical Hollywood ignorance of the truth

Rating: 9/10 (3 July 2002)

If one could watch Black Hawk Down strictly for its entertainment value, it should rate 9/10 or 10/10 for anyone who likes action or war movies. But unfortunately, as usual Hollywood takes a very complex historical situation and turns it into a ridiculously simplistic good vs. evil battle that completely ignores the entire context of what really happened in Somalia leading up to the events depicted in the movie.
By seeing the "Behind the Scenes" featurette on the DVD, you learn that the Pentagon provided unprecedented cooperation for this movie. It's no wonder that Black Hawk Down, stripped of the Hollywood veneer, is essentially just a very entertaining, very expensive 2+ hour reel of U.S. military propaganda that attempts to portray our involvement in Somalia in the very best light, when in fact there were all sorts of ulterior motives.
For a much more balanced perspective of what really happened, read this article about the movie: www.onlinejournal.com/01-03-02_Chin.pdf