Very accurate and straight forward

Rating: 8/10 (16 February 2009)

Black Hawk Down is a movie about the events surrounding the Battle of Mogadishu where 18 American soldiers were killed. This movie takes no time giving the background or developing the characters. We see that Mohamed Farrah Aidid and his militia had been taking UN aid from the people who needed it and that's all we need to know. We get a brief glimpse of the Rangers and Delta Force operatives. We see that the Rangers are mostly comprised of well trained, but inexperienced young men. We also see that the Delta Force operatives are mostly older veterans who are very professional about how they do their job. Ridley Scott must have had a lot of assistance from the military when making this movie because the planning and execution of the raid seemed to right out of something you could see today in Afghanistan or Iraq. The Delta Force operatives come in with overwhelming force and capture Aidid and everyone at the meeting. They are fast and precise. Black Hawk Down highlights how professional our military has become. We only see brief glimpses of the Rangers or Delta Force losing their cool. Throughout the battle they are trying to find a way to get through the battle and keep as many of their men alive as they can. The only time they really have time to reflect on what occurred and the men they lost was after they were safe outside the city. You aren't going to see another Saving Private Ryan or The Thin Red Line here. The movie does not go too deep in developing the characters and it does not try to send a message about war. It's an accurate depiction of what happened that day and what our men had to go through in order to make it through alive.