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A gripping dramatization of the abortive 1993 U.S. military operation in Somalia, Africa, that resulted in the Ambush in Mogadishu, Black Hawk Down earns high marks for its hyperrealistic representation of modern-day conventional warfare. Director Ridley Scott re-creates the fateful October 3rd mission in painstaking detail, capturing the horrifying chaos that ensues during armed conflicts on unfamiliar urban battlegrounds. Portraying the U.S. Army Rangers who fought in the streets of Mogadishu, Scott's talented ensemble cast helps make the events all the more real. Especially strong are Josh Harnett as Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann and Tom Sizemore as the grizzled veteran Lt. Colonel Danny McKnight. Also superb are Ewan McGregor, Ron Eldard, Jason Isaacs, and Sam Shepard. To his credit, Scott remains politically neutral on America’s role in the Somalian civil war. He doesn’t engage in the moral equivocation so fashionable among some Hollywood directors who’ve depicted failed U.S. military operations; instead, Black Hawk Down focuses on the heroic efforts of American soldiers committed to covering their buddies’ backs and bringing everybody home, dead or alive. Scott’s darting camera and rapid cutting make it occasionally difficult to follow the action, but that’s an intentional choice designed to emphasize the maddening confusion of warfare at close quarters. Sturdily mounted, brilliantly acted, and almost unbearably suspenseful, this powerful film shows the events of a fateful engagement in a new and considerably brighter light. The DVD edition includes a behind-the-scenes featurette, production notes, and an assortment of theatrical trailers. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

A quickly forgotten chapter in United States military history is relived in this harrowing war drama from director Ridley Scott, based on a series of Philadelphia Inquirer articles and subsequent book by reporter Mark Bowden. On October 3rd, 1993, an elite team of more than 100 Delta Force soldiers and Army Rangers, part of a larger United Nations peacekeeping force, are dropped into civil war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia, in an effort to kidnap two of local crime lord Mohamed Farah Aidid's top lieutenants. Among the team: Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett), Ranger Lt. Col. Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore), the resourceful Delta Sgt. First Class Jeff Sanderson (William Fichtner), and Ranger Spec. Grimes (Ewan McGregor), a desk-bound clerk getting his first taste of live combat. When two of the mission's Black Hawk helicopters are shot down by enemy forces, the Americans -- committed to recovering every man, dead or alive -- stay in the area too long and are quickly surrounded. The ensuing firefight is a merciless 15-hour ordeal and the longest ground battle involving American soldiers since the Vietnam War. In the end, 70 soldiers are injured and 18 are dead, along with hundreds of Somalians. Black Hawk Down was voted one of the top ten films of the year by the National Board of Review prior to its limited Oscar-qualifying release. On the basis of his work in this film, co-star Eric Bana, a relatively unknown Australian actor playing Delta Sgt. First Class "Hoot" Gibson, won the lead in director Ang Lee's version of The Hulk (2003). Karl Williams

Entertainment Weekly

Driven by scenes of gripping, unflinching battle, touched by the director's talent for communicating through the colors he chooses. Lisa Schwarzbaum

Chicago Sun-Times

Films like this are more useful than gung-ho capers like Behind Enemy Lines. They help audiences understand and sympathize with the actual experiences of combat troops, instead of trivializing them into entertainments. Roger Ebert

USA Today

No war movie I have ever seen so vividly shows battle from differing perspectives. Mike Clark

Product Details

• UPC: 043396067660
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français, Thai
• Time: 2:24:00
• Sales Rank: 888

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Black Hawk down / Sniper 3

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