Good War Flick, But A Little Too Much To Take

Rating: 7/10 (25 January 2006)

If you like war action films, this one is for you! After a slow start - about 40 minutes to set things up - it's almost non-stop action the rest of the way as American soldiers fight in the streets of Somalia.
Frankly, it was too much action for me, but I'm not a kid anymore so non-stop action gets a bit tiring after 20 minutes. This thing goes almost non-stop for 100 straight minutes. After awhile you want to just say, "Enough already! Let's take a break!
I don't know how much of this story is true. When they say, "based on a true story" that could mean as much as 90 percent of it is fictionalized for dramatic purposes. However, reports are that it is pretty accurate. Regardless, the film has some good things going for it.
First of all there is the military credo:: "Never leave anyone behind." That message certainly is demonstrated here even at the cost of about 20 American lives and who knows who many Somalis as soldiers go back into action to rescue men after a helicopter (named Black Hawk) goes "down."
With today's filmmakers and special effects capabilities, you get Saving Private Ryan-type realistic action scenes. That also means you get some gruesome scenes, too. This film is very bloody. It's intense and visually unique, I think, for a war film. Speaking of that, with director Ridley Scott, you get stylish visuals: lots of them. In this film, you see bunch of interesting orange-ish colors, great lighting and great facial closeups. The sound also is excellent with bullets "flying out" of all the surround speakers.
In the end, a little too much but still a good military movie that does justice to the unselfishness and heroism of the men in the military.