4 stars

Rating: 9/10 (18 April 2002)

This film tells the story of an American mission in Somalia in 1993. It starts with a too brief history of the situation, proceeds rapidly though introducing the characters (who for the most part you don't find yourself remembering or even caring that much about), and then dives into the action for the bulk of the running time.
At the moment (this was written right after I saw the film on 2/17/2002) I'm still shell-shocked. To my eyes, "Black Hawk Down" is as good an anti-war film as I've *ever* seen, yet I'm sure that for the right people it would be seen as a pro-military film. Similarly in this country we would likely root for the Americans in the film, while I have read that bootlegged copies of this film shown in Somalia drew cheers whenever an American was killed. Perhaps this is a sign of a balanced approach.
My opinion of "Saving Private Ryan" has grown over the years since I first saw it because the images have stuck with me, and I find myself wondering if this film will be similar. For the moment I will rate it assuming that is the case.