Astonishing Realism

Rating: 8/10 (26 October 2002)

A cinematic dramatization of the intense 18-hour gun battle in central Mogadishu between Army Rangers and Somali irregulars, "Black Hawk Down" is a 120-minute roller coaster ride with bullets and grenades. Accurately following the terrible events in October 1992, director Ridley Scott seems to chronicle every gunshot and rocket as a band of Army Rangers tries to extricate themselves from deep inside enemy territory after a failed attempt to capture high-ranking associates of a local warlord. The gun battle and rescue attempt encompass the final three-fourths of the movie. Its stunning realism is on par with the Omaha Beach opener to "Saving Private Ryan". But unlike "Saving Private Ryan" that's all there is to "Black Hawk Down". The first quarter of the movie is not used judiciously to introduce the characters and we don't know them very well when the action starts. And after the bullets start to fly, that's it till the end of the movie. Don't get me wrong, "Black Hawk Down" is a very good war movie, but if the first quarter had been better written, it could have been a great movie.