Pretty good movie for what it was intended for.

Rating: Null/10 (5 March 2002)

First off,..to get this out of the way,..I'm beginning to think that if you don't live in the U.S. PLEASE stop watching movies made in the U.S. if all ya want do is complain about America, Americans, patriotism, whatever you continually call flag waving, or in this case,..facts. And all apologies to those outside the U.S. who can enjoy an American made film without looking for insipid things to bash us about, especially war movies.
'Nuff said.
This movie, while it admittedly has in spots some rather odd one liners, portrays pretty accurately some of the stupid things that can be said when under the high stress of a combat situation, if you have not experienced it, and I'm personally thankful that you have not, it's usually not in any way shape or form a cohesive well thought out thing,..cause for some reason when the scat whacks the rotating and oscillating blades of a cooling device, the best laid plans can come apart in a hurry.
This is based pretty well on the facts of the book I'd say, and to a couple of guys I met a while back who were able to give me a bit of insight on that situation compared to the book,..and now with the movie, everything seems to coincide well, and yes, I believe it really does help a lot to read the book first. A lot of people are complaining that it's not this or that type of movie, or it does not have this or we should not have to see whatever portrayed in such a manner.
This is not exactly a plot based movie,..as it relies on facts as they actually happened,..which can limit how a film can be portrayed. Nor can it be called a "documentary" for obvious reasons. If the director had wanted to portray the political side he could have,.but we would have lost a lot of what the film was made for because of time constraints. What this was meant to be was an account of what happened because of mixed signals,..some lack of forethought, and underestimation of the enemy,..seeing as no one expected two rival warlord factions to make a temporary truce to really dogpile on the U.S. forces. Throw in some plain old fashioned bad luck and this film is exactly what you get, from the U.S. soldiers point of view. That's it,..no more no less,..it did exactly what it set out to do, get the perspective from not the Somalis side, nor the directors viewpoint so much either but from those who fought against the Somalis. And in this it was a job very well done.
A lot of people have whined about the Somalis points of view and thoughts, well, let em make their own damned movie about,.that should quiet a lot of non-Americans and make them so happy they could hug themselves seeing the U.S. in a bad a light as possible. Whatever it takes man, dig? And the body count of the Somalis compared to the special forces? Well,..you have a buttload of mostly civvie/guerrilla p****d off semi-stone age natives in bunches and masses running around,.against highly trained military forces whom are dug and behind what cover they have, fighting for their lives, and the lives of their friends. You do the math.
This movie did exactly what is was made to do, and did it well,despite a few admittedly odd moments, but such is life, war and..unfortunately at times Hollywood. Read the book before you see the movie if possible, it will shed a lot of light on the common questions that may (and should) arise in your mind.
Peace