Young Rangers and veteran Delta Force soldiers must fight side by side against overwhelming odds. For 18 harrowing hours, they remain trapped and wounded in the most hostile district of Mogadishu until a rescue convoy can be mounted to retrieve them. Outnumbered and surrounded, tensions flare, friends are lost, alliances are formed and soldiers learn the true nature of war and heroism.

Eighteen U.S. soldiers and more than 500 Somalians were killed as a result of this conflict, following the disastrous consequences was a major turning point in the way the US conducted military operations.

Initially written as an extensive article on an online newspaper site and later further compiled into a full length book by Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down is a story that many forgot or never knew about until it was transferred to the big screen by the Hollywood heavyweights Riddley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer. The operation, into the heart of one of the most dangerous places on earth, was meant to last 30min but instead resulted in an 18hr intense firefight, the largest since the Vietnam Tet Offensive.  Bowden visited Mogadishu months after the event to further research the story and as a result of his extensive knowledge was heavily involved in the film's production including writing the first draft of the screenplay.

There have been countless movies based on war and with different angles to the way they approach the subject matter and while the angle employed by Black Hawk Down has been done before, it is certainly one of the few where it has been done so well. I can never recall another war film that had such engrossing battle scenes that lasted for virtually the entire running time of the film. The camera does not shy away from the gore and it is far more unrelenting than even "Saving Private Ryan." There is a sense of insurmountable odds as a handful of Special Forces troops are attacked by thousands of Somalis from every direction. The brutal and heartbreaking experience lasts until the very last minute rendering the audience exhausted by the moment the credits roll.

Coming from the heavyweight production team of Jerry Bruckheimer and Riddley Scott, the film thankfully avoids for most part the excesses and lack of realism of their other Hollywood work and instead relies heavily on some fantastic effects work that brings the action to life. The cast is equally impressive with Josh Harnett and Tom Sizemore giving it their best and even Australia's Eric Banner stands proud albeit with a rather annoying heavy American accent.

Before making any comments on the quality of the video transfer, one must understand that the film makers deliberately chose to stylise the print by employing desaturation of colours and inserting grain into the print to produce an image more suited to such a war film. As such, when compared to non stylised prints it would appear the video transfer is sub par but when the intentional effect is taking into account the video quality is indeed excellent.

 The level of detail is very high revealing even the most intimate details. You can at times see the drops of sweat on the soldiers faces. The shadow detail is spot on even in the darkest scenes and the print is virtually artifact free bar some very difficult to notice instances of slight shimmer and aliasing.

 With the style of the video in mind, this is a great visual transfer that can easily be projected onto a large screen for maximum enjoyment.

• Dolby Digital 5.1

• Audio commentary by director Ridley Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer

• Audio commentary by author Mark Bowden and screenwriter Ken Nolan

• Audio commentary by 1993 U.S. Special Forces team veterans

 The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is just as good as the one found on the earlier Black Hawk Down release. This is certainly one of the most impressive soundtracks I've ever heard and it is unrelenting for the duration of the film.

The sonic experience delivered is proof of why it won the Oscar for Best Sound and easily has one of the most encompassing sound mixes ever. No surround channel is left unscathed, with bullets, RPGs and explosions whooshing past every speaker and the subwoofer struggling to keep pace with the action. Despite the overwhelming firepower across the speakers, amazingly enough dialogue is always easily intelligible and clear.

Hans Zimmer is one of my favourite film music composers and he has created a superb soundtrack that is perfectly suited to this film. Borrowing from elements of African music, he has created a track that follows the pace of the film and portrays the images of war superbly.

There is no doubt this audio track is demo material for any system.

DISC 1

• Audio commentary by director Ridley Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer

• Audio commentary by author Mark Bowden and screenwriter Ken Nolan

• Audio commentary by 1993 U.S. Special Forces team veterans

Yes, not one commentary but THREE each with a different spin on the story and the film. All 3 are very good and provide different sort of information, including correlation (or lack of) of the film's depiction of the real life events in the 3rd commentary done by the real army rangers.

DISC 2

The Essence of Combat

• Getting it right (24min)
  A look into the research conducted by the writers, film makers and cast and crew to ensure the film would be as realistic as possible. They met a lot of rangers who were originally involved in the operation and tried to gather as much info as possible

• Crash Course (30min)
  A look behind the scenes in the extensive training the actors received in preparation for their roles. Each actor attended boot camp with the respective unit they represented (eg Rangers, Delta etc) and received training ranging from weapons handling and explosives to techniques in securing a building. This is probably the most detailed behind the scenes military training featurette I have ever seen on a DVD. Fans of this kind of thing will love it. Look out for Ewan McGregor trying to do chin ups!

• Battlefield Morocco (30min)
  Another long behind the scenes look into the selection of Morocco as the town to which to shoot. Somalia was not an option for obvious reasons. The doco provides an insight into the difficulties in shooting in such a place. There are some great behind the scenes shots with lots of explosions and shooting and the real army rangers who participated in the movie performing the difficult stunts.

• Hymn to the Fallen (18min)
  Hans Zimmer discusses the techniques he employed in creating the soundtrack of the film which had to be more than just a film score but a hymn to the fallen.

• Digital Warriors (23min)
  Discussion with the team behind the excellent special effects work. They mention several times the absolute goal at all times was to ensure the action remained realistic. There was no room for over the top Hollywood action here. The creation of the Black Hawk crash scene is explained in detail here and we get an inside look as to how they managed to create such realistic explosions.

• After Action Report (25min)
  The real life rangers and the film's cast crew talking about the real life story and their personal experiences and thoughts about it.

Image & Design

7 sections that explore different aspects of the film's making

• Designing Mogadishu (13min)
  A video featurette showing the design of the set in Morocco to make it look like Mogadishu.

• Production Design Archive
  Still photography and boards

• Storyboards

• "Riddley Grams"
  Riddley likes to create his own storyboards on the set to visualise the action. Here he presents some of these and provides a commentary for them

• Bruckheimer's BHD Photo Album
  Jerry Bruckheimer is a passionate amateur phographer and likes to shoot his own photos during his film projects. Here he presents much of the photography he took during the making of Black Hawk down and presents it with a commentary.

• Photo Galleries

• Title Design Exploration (+/- commentary)
  Video featurette on the work to design the opening title and credits of the film

• Deleted and Altered scenes (+/- commentary by R Scott)
  There are 8 scenes here including an alternate ending.

DISC 3

HISTORICAL ARCHIVE

•  The True Story of BHD (1hr 31min)
  A History Channel documentary that looks at the real life events of that day in Oct 1993. There are some gruesome images here of dead US soldiers being dragged along the streets that at the time shocked the world and forced the American politicians to change course something for which the US soldiers are very bitter about as evident by some of their interviews here. A great documentary and certainly excellent watching to learn more about the event.

• Frontline - Ambush in Mogadishu (55min)
  Another documentary from TV which once again describes the events of that day and the efforts of the soldiers to survive
   

TARGET BUILDING

• Insertion into Mogadishu
   6 Multiple angle scenes with commentary of the insertion of the Army Rangers into the streets of Mogadishu

Q & A FORUMS

Interviews and Q & A of cast and crew at different locations and infront of large audiences.

PROMOTION

• Trailers
  Black Hawk Down, Spiderman, Men In Black II

• Poster Concepts

• Gortoz A Ran Music Video
  A rather nice and hymnic music video.