Black Hawk Down SteelBook (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital) [4K UHD]

One leaves the theater breathless after seeing "Black Hawk Down". Now, with my new DVD in hand, I am pleased to be able to see this film whenever I like. This is, most simply put, the most grittily realistic and overpoweringly authentic and accurate depiction of modern combat imaginable. This is the closest we ordinary citizens can come to the actual experience, as we are sucked involuntarily into the terrifying vortex of the world of modern combat. We careen into combat with the young volunteers, our hearts pounding, the sweat pouring off us as we go, feeling our blood pressure rise as we rappel breathlessly down with them to the hard dusty ground! Of course, with Ridley Scott involved, one comes to expect such amazingly spellbinding theatrics, yet this movie threads quickly along the well-greased storyline provided in the best selling book, adding the sharp, quicksilver dimensions of reality only such a stunningly visual depiction can offer in addition. And, from the anxious hand tremors of a young trooper about to descend into the madness of a flurry of hostile gunfire to the knowing worried glances a special forces combatant exchanges with one of his men, this is a superbly acted, casted, and choreographed set of battle scenes. And the scenes go relentlessly on and on.Precious little time is wasted here providing the outlines of what turns out to be a mission from Hell; policy makers in Washington (read Secretary Albright here, trying to show she could out-testosterone the guys) decide this bunch of cravenly aggressive mercenary tribes can be corralled and democratized, that Somalia can become an instant shining example of our new-found powers of nation-making, and the American peace-keeping forces are suddenly tasked with missions for which they are ill-equipped. Without sufficient armor or enough reaction troop strength, the command orders a kidnap mission to eliminate one of the warlords who is most actively opposing the new "pie-in-the=sky" political objectives, and a small force of young troopers are dispatched in several helicopters to make a quick-strike raid into the heart of Mogadishu. Just as they have reached the point of accomplishing their mission, a helicopter is shot down, and all at once, hell breaks loose.Yet this is truly just the beginning. The story of how these men stood their ground, how exceedingly well they fought, and how savagely they staved off the vastly superior numbers of local opponents who were well armed and supplied is only now becoming the stuff of legend. The real question one is left with after seeing the movie (or after reading the wonderful book, as well) is how such a valiant and well-executed action could have ever been described by both our government and the press as a defeat. It is more a lesson in the extraordinary and shameful timidity of everyone in the chain of command, from Madeline Albright to Colin Powell to the Secretary of Defense on down, who refused the Battle Scene Commander the resources he requested, that literally doomed the mission once things began to go awry.Therefore, while we did unfortunately lose eighteen men, we also inflicted hundreds of casualties on the opposing forces, and finally were able to successfully evacuate the balance of the American forces after having engaged the street fighters for an incredibly extended period of time. This engagement and the kind of men who fought in it should be sung of in battle hymns, not decried as evidence of American softness or lack of a will to fight. As always, the fault in the action lies not in the ferocious young men who fought and died so courageously and so well, but in the despicable and all too-human failures of their leaders and their government to use them wisely, to take greater care in placing them so carelessly in harm's way. Simply put, this is a great film, easily one of the best war films ever produced, and one I can heartily recommend! Enjoy!

Black Hawk Down is based on a true story, it's graphic.but what war flim isn't . I have to say this is one of the best war films I've seen since Platoon.

If you like war movies, you'll def like this one. There WILL BE moments of intensity. It's a WAR movie. Be ready. It's graphic.

Great movie.

Love this movie. So I had to buy it

To start off with, before or after seeing the movie, reading the book would be a huge plus because the book is incredibly good. It may well fill in any gaps or questions that were not addressed in the movie. Seeing the movie after reading the book, It was very apparent that the movie followed the book very closely and was excellently done.The movie does not delve into the politics of the U.S. in Somalia but it does give an introductory, although short, explanation why we were there and what we were trying to accomplish. Some reviewers have stated that we shouldn't have been there in the first place. Let's take a look - it was reported that 300,000 Somalian citizens had starved to death because their emergency food supplies (flown in by the U.S.) were taken away by Somalian warlords. The Somalian militias then attacked U.N. peacekeeping forces and rendered them just about useless. The United States was about the only nation left to go and render aid and assistance because no one else was going to do it. We had honest and just reasons to try to shut down the warlords and help a country that was harboring genocidal killers that were perpetrating vicious crimes against humanity.Being in the military myself for 14 years now, I can relate to what goes through a soldiers mind and why we in the military are asked to do certain things that the average citizens of our country cannot always relate to. It's not easy to explain, but we in the military are very proud and rely on honor, integrity, teamwork, and pride. We work very hard to protect our country, other countries, and those in the world who cannot protect themselves and who need our help. This is just one of the reasons that makes America great.In October of 1993, some 100 or so U.S. Military Forces comprised of the Army Rangers, Delta Force, and the Special Operations Aviation Regiment (S.O.A.R.) were tasked to extricate two key individuals in the warlord clan led by Mohammed Aidid to help stop the crimes against the Somalian people. This extrication was to take place in an extremely hostile area in the middle of the city of Mogadishu in broad daylight. According to initial planning, it was to be a 30 to 35 minute operation which ended up playing out to be a horrifying 16 to 18 hour ordeal. The reality at the onset was looking to be successful until two Blackhawk type helicopters were shot down using rocket propelled grenades (RPG's).The U.S. soldiers were immediately thrown into an environment of total chaos being that the Somalian militias were very heavily armed and attacked from every section of the city. Adding to the misery was that hundreds, if not thousands of Somalian citizens had weapons also and relentlessly attacked our soldiers for hours on end without hesitation. The U.S. soldiers, taking many disastrous casualties and injuries of their own, secured both helicopter crash scenes, fought all the way through with almost unheard of courage and determination, brought all of their wounded and dead out that they could, and showed more bravery and resolve than could ever be asked of anyone.Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer have long been involved in movies of non-stop action and heart pounding excitement. I don't see this movie as so much an action movie but compare it more to a documentary and an entirely realistic vision of what actually happened on that fateful day. I believe that the movie was exceptionally well made and showed exactly what needed to be showed. This was not a movie to be a forum for the politics of why we were there. The movie states why we were there and how the military was intimately involved. If there is anyone who questions our military or how good they really are or what sacrifices we have made in history for our country and other countries, this movie is indicative of why our country is the greatest with the greatest military. This is probably one of the 10 best war films ever made and I think it is important for U.S. citizens to really know what happened that day in Somalia to get a clear picture.I couldn't give this review 5 stars because of the poor content of the DVD release. There are trailers for 2 movies but neither are for Black Hawk Down. Not good. There is no directors commentary and no worthwhile featurettes. Why? In the age of digital sound and video, we are seeing much more of DTS sound on large amounts of DVD releases. The 5.1 Dolby surround on this movie was excellent but DTS would have been sensational and they should have considered this when making the DVD. I have a reasonably good suspicion that they will re-release this DVD with a load of extra's in the future and possibly DTS sound. It may be worth the wait.If you like war movies, especially those that are based on true events and very accurate, you will probably find Black Hawk Down to your liking. A small word of warning though. This movie depicts very graphic scenes of injuries and carnage and death. But, that is precisely how it should have been done so that the viewer can relate to what actually happened. I hope most of you will be able to appreciate this movie as much as I did.