Superb, suspenseful, realistic depiction of the Mogadishu battle

Rating: 10/10 (21 January 2002)

With accurate depictions of today's professional soldiers, nonstop suspense, and excellent combat scenes, Black Hawk Down is one of the best war movies ever. Without any glamour and moralistic preaching, it portrays the desperation of soldiers surrounded by superior numbers and the courage of soldiers attempting save them and to save each other. Black Hawk Down has scenes of graphic violence, but those scenes are there not for shock value, but because they actually happened. This movie does not dwell on "why" the battle of Mogadishu happened, but "how" it happened, recreating the emotional draining effect of intense combat. Superb acting performances and Ridley Scott's direction provide a very, very good movie about a failed military operation.