Fantastic, contains everything a war film must have.

Rating: 10/10 (17 April 2010)

I am a war movie fanatic, and I have seen almost every modern war movie out there. I thought that Saving Private Ryan was the best war movie ever made, winning 8 academy awards. That was a movie that really hooked me the most. When I saw the Black Hawk Down trailer, I thought that this would be one of those movies that would only have about 1 to 2 battle scenes (similar to what I expected from Tears of the Sun, although it was a good one). I didn't bother to pay and watch it at the theaters, but Id rather receive a copy once it was released. However, that changed after the first weekend of the movies initial release. I literally heard people talking about it everywhere I went. That concluded me to see the movie ASAP. Im not a theater person, so I planned to buy it. My dad sold DVD's a few years ago. Luckily for me, my dad received an overstock on the film, and he let me have a copy of it. Right when I got home, I immediately fed the DVD into the DVD player. Three hours later, I knew that this was the best war movie ever made, with Saving Private Ryan only coming close.
Today I own the movie, book, and the game. Black Hawk Down is the most excellent movie I have ever seen. It has everything needed in a war film, including a graphic field surgery. The movie was well organized, partly because most of the actors underwent real boot camp training. From the first half an hour or so of the movie, I was beginning to become upset since I nearly waited about half an hour until the intensity started flowing. But it was well organized, looking as if the movie was a documentary.
When the violent started happening, I was surprised! I have never seen a movie this graphic in detail, that within the first 15 minutes of the war scenes going on I needed to get the kids out of the room. (This movie shouldn't be watched with kids, some images could be too frightening for them, one of the most disturbing scenes showing the the overrun of the 2nd crash site. DO NOT LET CHILDREN VIEW THIS SCENE.) A lot of violence, including the defending of helicopter crash sites, the main concept of the movie. Most deaths in this movie are emotional, including a scene where the a lost rescue convoy is taking heavy fire, and a man is shown severed in half. It isn't shown until after he tells fellow soldiers at his aid, "Tell my girls, ill be OK", contributing to emotional deaths, one of the many counted in this movie. (Again, do not let children see this movie, since there is at least 1 person dying or getting shot every 10 minutes). Another concept I liked is that the movie is based off a true story. And also, the ending was great. The soldiers, finally returning to base after nearly 15 to 16 hours of intense, horrific firefighting on a mission that was only suppose to take an hour. They return to base at the end of the movie, only to remind the viewers that there are still men out there in the fighting area. One soldier, is shown getting ready to return to the the fight and find the men, prior to giving his final words in the movie, including the words "Its about the man next to you." (Soldiers are believing that the crew from the 2nd crashed helicopter, including pilot Mike Durrant and 2 delta snipers are still trapped in the city, marked as MIA, but viewers already know that the snipers and crew were killed, and Durrant was being held hostage.)
Overall, this movie was the greatest war movie I ever seen, if not THE greatest movie ever seen. I think explained enough. Great job to all the people involved in this movie.