Customer Reviews
Gritty modern warfare - By: Hugh Garske, 22 Jun 2008 
A stampede of adrenaline that could be listed amongst the top 20 great war films. As over a hundred rangers & delta ops invade a hornets nest we watch the unfolding events as the longer they're there the more the nest bites back.
There was talk of dressing up other helicopter models to look like blackhawks due to it being awkward to get the real thing but thank goodness they did it properly as the realism is what grabs you from the start with this movie. By the end of it you feel as though you need to kick off your boots, take a swig from your canteen, & get the bandaids out.
The acting is superb from everyone. If there's one gripe I've got with this movie it's that there are so many class actors with similar haircuts amongst the roller coaster action that's it's very difficult to follow who's who. But then that's where the extra viewings come in of which a couple may be required. All of them are worth it though.
Saving Private Ryan is arguably better but Black Hawk Down is currently the best depiction of modern combat in a film - By: M. Hibbs, 20 Mar 2008 The cast is A* with truly outstanding performances coming from Ewan McGregor & Eric Bana amongst others. I can't think of a modern war film that offers such a realistic take on military combat. Saving Private Ryan may be a better war film, but Ridley Scott has created a masterpiece here & one that is going to be difficult to better in the future.
Brilliant DVD! - By: Mr. Matthew Macdonald, 13 Jan 2008 What can i say bout this..... it just made u feel like u was there. This film had everything u could want, it doesnt stray from the actual point of the story but doesnt neglect the characters either! deff worth buying!!
the perfect war film - By: M. Bristo, 07 Jan 2008 If you like war films with action from start to end then this is the film for you. The camera work is outstanding & the film is simply thrilling!
Black Hawk Down - See the film then read the book - By: G. Wood, 19 Oct 2007 
Based very much on a true story, this is an atmospheric & quite scary depiction of a raid by US Army Rangers on Mogadishu that starts badly & goes rapidly downhill from there. Poor planning, lousy communication & an underestimation of the heavily tooled-up enemy lead to a desperate attempt on the part of the US soldiers to fight their way back to safety, & a courageous effort to rescue them on the part of their buddies.
What you get from the book but not reallly from the film is that order was finallly restored (and much of the rescuing done) by a non-american UN force doing things the old-fashioned way. Also, the author explains how after the SF guys snatch their target successfully, over-complicated command-and-control procedures led to the convoy driving around in circles, picking up casualties in their lightly-armoured Humvees & trucks on the way. The absence of a reserve force ready to go in led to decisions being made on the hoof - something not often practised in the US army! Interestingly, with post 9/11 hindsight some experts reckon that the enemy, who at the time were thought to be alll local clansmen & warlords, was actuallly being co-ordinated by a more sinister force, with more sophisticated knowledge of how to, say, shoot down a helicopter with an RPG.
If you want to know the political & military background to this film, do read the book (available at alll good on-line bookshops, plug plug).
