Just watch it... Seriously... Right now: A review of "Black Hawk Down" by Sam Hayes

The most accurate description of this movie I can think of would be a roller coaster that starts by going straight up for about a thousand feet, then just drops for the rest of the movie. This isn't to say that it's bad, but emotionally that's how it goes.
The reason for that description is because in the beginning, you are treated to getting to know all the soldiers you will follow on the raid of the Bakara market. You see all these different men (who were of course, real people) who come from different cities and different states, who all have their own personalities. In this first segment of the film, you really learn to love these characters and develop an attachment to all of them (which is a terrible thing to do if you get emotional in films). Soon enough you see the briefing on the raid of the Bakara market in which lies a key player in the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's organization whom the rangers are sent to capture. This is where the downhill begins. From the very beginning, one can see the whole plan go wrong as the Somalian rebels are much more populous and dangerous than previously thought to be and succeed in taking down not one, but two Black Hawk helicopters. This leads to a supposed 30 minute raid turning into an over-night gunfight as the rangers must rescue the pilots of the choppers and get out of the market.
The whole movie really captures the terror and frenzy of war as you see basically anything and everything happen to the rangers. From men taking bullets, losing hands, and even being blown in half. The tension is built a record high as every time a ranger crosses a street, or peeks out of a corner, you always fear for them since you can never be certain of who will die and who will survive. Seriously though, I can't do justice to the emotions one would feel while watching this. There are so many heartbreaking moments such as when the pilot of the second crashed chopper sees his comrades die and pulls out a picture of his wife and child, or when Jamie Smith bleeds out after getting shot in his femoral artery only asking that the other soldiers tell his parents that he fought well. There were many aggravating moments too, like when the general denies requests at inopportune times, when Nelson goes deaf after specifically telling Twombly not to fire his gun next to his head, or when the U.N. convoy moves too fast for the soldiers on foot at the end and do not stick around to help fend off some final shots from Somali terrorists.
The end scenes are very fitting, because although the images on screen are of others celebrating the return of the rangers, there is still melancholy music to display the grief felt by all the men that they lost anyone that day.
Black Hawk Down gets 4.7 out of 5 stars because of all the emotion it makes one feel and how it immortalizes such a tragedy. However, it does lose a few points because as i discovered later, it's not entirely historically accurate as the Somali rebels do not resemble actual men from the Horn of Africa and their dialect is completely wrong. There were also many scenes that were cut as they showed tough decisions for the rangers that some deemed inappropriate.