FIRST TIME WATCHING: Black Hawk Down (2001) REACTION (Movie Commentary) 

Fun fact, when the first Blackhawk gets shot down and you see the little bird pilot landed helicopter to help the Delta operator, that particular pilot is playing himself. He is actually reacting what he did during the real battle of Mogadishu.

this operation happened oct 3 1993 on my birthday and a year before i went to bootcamp. this is news footage of it online.

I don't remember if they tell this in the film, but the time of day picked for the raid was critcal. In the afternoon, most of the male natives start chewing Khat(?), a cocaine like substance. They felt invincable.

One of my friends from college was 1LT DiTomasso, who had Chalk 2. In the movie they only mention his name once without context. In the book, which greatly details the Battle of Mogadishu, he is clearly helping lead the security and defense of the intersection with his chalk and stragglers all night. Meanwhile attempts are continued to get the body of CW3 Wolcott out of the crashed helicopter, Super 61. I definitely recommend you pick up Michael Bowden’s book to get the full scope of the battle.

My first Commanding Officer at Fort Bragg in 2002 who I served with in Iraq in 2003 (MAJ White) was an enlisted medic during the battle of Mogadishu. he never needed to watch this masterpiece. he said the real bloodshed was infinitely more real. it helped me as a young medic in OIF I. still one of the most raw and griping war films ever made.

I remember the day this happened. At the time, this was the biggest firefight for the U.S. military since Vietnam. You asked what the Somalis did with the bodies of the two Delta operators who were killed protecting the helicopter crash. They stripped them naked and drug them through the streets by their ankles. We know that because we saw the video of it on CNN all day the day after it happened. There were also videos of Somalis jumping up and down on the crashed Blackhawk. A day or so later we saw the video of the captured pilot, Durant, all beat up saying what the Somalis told him to say. Even though he was already seriously injured from the crash and the beating, they also shot him in the leg while he was being held prisoner. He was released after eleven days. Until this movie came out, those were the only visuals we had for what happened. Soldiers didn't wear helmet cams back then so we didn't see any of the battle, just the results of the battle.

"I don't even know who stars in this movie." Well, everyone. o.O

every year there is what is called the mogadishu mile where you do a full kit run in honor of those guys that did that.

The cast list on this movie is absolutely epic

Hey, CI. Miss me? 😉 24:03 - The screaming that's heard in the background... I never understood it. I mean, I could grasp the idea that someone would scream when they got hurt, but sustained screaming..? I didn't get it. Until 2.5 weeks after I had my left foot amputated, and I lost my balance, and landed directly on my stump. I lay on the floor, just screaming for a full minute. No one was around. Just a guy in his early 50's, having a nice, casual scream of agony. Thankfully, one of the things I made sure physical therapy covered with me was how to get myself off the floor after a fall. "I'm going to be alone at times, and I'm going to fall at some point. It's statistically impossible to think I'd never fall." Got myself off the floor, made it to my bed, took painkillers, and laid there weeping until they kicked in. See? Fun story. Now that you know it, you can share it at parties. 😁

As much as I love Hacksaw Ridge, Saving Private Ryan, Fury....etc. This is still my fav war movie. It's SUPER accurate and just well made to the point of you can't really find any complaints about it. I even bought the soundtrack to the movie.

A few things the movie glossed over or changed: there was a third Delta sniper onboard Super 6-2 named Brad Halling who was severely wounded while providing cover fire from the air for Gordon and Shugart's rescue attempt. The helicopter was struck between the copilot and the minigun by an RPG. Brad lost half his left leg and the copilot was knocked out. Matt Eversmann actually returned to the Task Force Ranger compound on a humvee and went back into the city later on. Black Hawk Super 6-1 actually crashed in an alleyway and it was used as a casualty collection point for the wounded. In addition, Air Force Pararescueman Scott Fales (the other medic who goes inside the helicopter) was shot in the ass and spent the entire battle shooting at Somalis, even escaping from a stretcher he was put on by some Rangers. Pararescueman Tim Wilkinson (played by Ty Burrell) spent the night across the street treating wounded Rangers and Delta Operators including the Ranger Grimes is based on. He ran across the massive intersection 3 times to retrieve medical supplies from the CCP and won the Air Force Cross for gallantry. Dan Busch, the Delta Operator we see crawl out from the 6-1 wreck was awarded the Silver Star for his actions defending the helicopter. At the 6-4 crash site, all four crew members surivived the crash and defended it until Gordon and Shugart arrived. Copilot Ray Frank and crew chiefs Tommi Fields and Bill Cleveland were moved behind the tail and Durant was moved to a tree. That was the thing that saved his life. The others died away from him. Colonel McKnight only was present for the first part of the battle. Because he was injured. Major Nixon took his spot when the rescue convoy departed the base. Throughout the night, Super 6-6 made several resupply drops of water, ammo and medical supplies so the Rangers and Delta Operators were in better shape than shown. On the initial convoy, there was an unarmored, completely open Humvee with four men from SEAL Team 6's Gold Squadron who took an absolute beating and had to be picked up by one of the trucks holding the prisoners. Four Air Force Combat Controllers were also present. One road in the humvee with McKnight, one went in on a Little Bird with Delta, one was with a Ranger chalk that fast roped from a Black Hawk and the last went with the Combat Search And Rescue helicopter

Capt Steele was Luciuous Malfoy in Harry Potter

The movie was scheduled for release at the end of 2001, which means by the time it was released, we were in a post-9/11 world and troops were in Afghanistan. With that plus what would happen in Iraq, this kind of incident would repeat hundreds of times. This movie, along with "Saving Private Ryan," completely revolutionized how war movies and even video games would get made.

Rest in peace to Sam Shepard. I had more of his movies in my collection than I thought. Days of Heaven, The Right Stuff, Steel Magnolias, Voyager, The Pelican Brief, All the Pretty Horses, The Pledge, Swordfish, The Notebook, Stealth, The Assassination of Jesse James, Fair Game, Blackthorne, Safehouse, Killing Them Softly, Mud, Out of the Furnace, and Midnight Special. Wow: almost 20.

Typing wasn't a rare skill. It was taught to pretty much every student in high school. Some student strive more than others. This was before PCs were in nearly every home. Now, that is where you learn to type, but, being self-taught, you don't learn it properly.

When i was deployed to the Persian Gulf, i used to listen to the song 'leave no man behind' from this soundtrack every day.

When the Samali's overran the chopper and captured Durant. It supposedly wasnt a rifle that they hit him with. It was an arm that they had ripped off of one of the dead soldiers. Obviously they chose not to include that in the scene.

This is easily one of the best war movies ever made. It's a very faithfully accurate movie. Obviously some things are changed or merged together, But it's as authentic a portrayal as you can really get.

What's interesting and sad at the same time is that the US basically said ''Screw it! We're outta here!'' in a few days! Sadly, this proved tragic considering the fact that one year later, Rwanda suffered a horrible genocide and the US didn't get involved because of what happened in Mogadishu!

One thing that it pains me was left out of the movie, was how they "negotiated" the release of the captured chopper pilot. In an interview, the negotiator said it was the easiest negotiation he ever did. He said he met with the enemy negotiator several days after the incident and waited for him to give his list of demands. Then had his say. He basically said. I will relay your demands and see what I can do. But let me first tell you this. If Durant isnt released, and soon, there is no way I can stop what is coming for you. Our men want revenge, and now they have been reinforced. They now have tanks and armoref vehicles and an aircraft carrier task force is in the area. They will tear this city down and not leave a brick standing. Durant was released less than 48 hours later and no enemy demands were met.

They drug the bodies through the streets. Both men, Green Berets, were awarded the Medal of Honor…posthumously.

I always shake my head when Orlando says,"I've been trainig for this my whole life." He's 18 years old. His "whole life" of training doesn't inspire confidence.

i served with the battalion where blackburn (the dude that fell out of the helicopter) was in. bunch of awesome dudes. this operation definitely changed a lot of things.

21:50 What really happened to their bodies was so much more gruesome and inhumane. They dragged their bodies through the street, threw rocks at, shot, and then set on fire. It was filmed and released to american media who then broadcast it on the news, which backfired and resulted in an outrage on those news outlets choosing to broadcast it.

While they could only get 4 Blackhawks for the film, the real operation had about 10. Supers 6-1 and 6-2 were Delta sniper platforms, 6-3 was the Command and Control (C2) bird, 6-4 through 6-7 carried Ranger chalks and 6-8 was the Combat Search And Rescue bird. They had I believe two other choppers in reserve, one of which was grabbed by the crew of Super 6-6 to fly resupply runs during the night. There was a total of 19 choppers during the initial infil of Delta Operators and Rangers, most of which were either MH-6 transport or AH-6 attack Little Bird helos. During attempted rescue at the 6-4 crash, there was a third sniper onboard Super 6-2 named Brad Halling. He took control of the right side minigun when the crew chief was wounded. The bird stayed overhead for about ten minutes or so before it was broadsided by an RPG that knocked the copilot out and mangled Halling's leg. Also, all four members of the aircrew survived the initial crash but were murdered by the mob. Durant was separated for some reason and that saved him from his crew's fate.

This was primarily adapted from the Mark Bowden novel of the same name, which is a more detailed description of what happened

My drill Sgt. in basic training was one of the guys who went in to rescue the pilots.

This movie does have the distinction of being the most accurate war movie in that it sticks the real conflict timeline and takes very little hollywood license except where it really had to to keep the audience engaged

This is a Ridley Scott movie, so I imagine he did a lot of casting in the UK too.

Immediately went out and got the book after watching this. A truly fantastic read; one of the few times I can wholeheartedly recommend both the movie and the book on a given topic.

"How many RPGs do they got?" All of them. If this incident happened today, that dude who bled to death on the table with a blown femoral artery wouldn't die. A few years after this everything changed and there was no more dicking around trying to clamp arteries. A tourniquet goes on, first thing. Stop the bleeding is paramount.

Suggest Tears of the Sun next.

Got to hear some of the madness from a dude who was there, fucking wild.

22:33 Ty Burrell - Phil from Modern Family. One of his first big film appearances

Seen this movie several times, still cry everytime.

My dad made me read the novelization before seeing the movie. It was so much more brutal in text. Kinda worked out backwards.

This movie is unreal. The music is fire. The action unmatched. The realism real. Fun fact Delta Force no longer exists.

In preparation for this movie each actor was sent and trained by the respective units they were portraying. Some of the radio chatter you hear is actually from that particular action.

I feel so old when people say they don’t know if this is based on a true story or they’ve never heard of it 😩😩😩😩 LOL If you haven’t seen it yet, “Shot Caller” is a good movie w the actor who played Jaime Lannister

I remember sitting in Land navigation class at Fort Drum when one of the runners came in, said something to the instructor, and then I was told that my unit had sent a Humvee to come pick me up. I had no clue what was going on, so I grabbed my gear and went to my unit. I got back and asked what was going on and my squad leader said six words I'll never forget - "The Rangers were hit in Mogadishu." We all knew what that meant. We were wheels up 2 days later. By the time we left, every single one of us was out for blood because there were news reports showing the mobs dragging bodies of soldiers through the streets. We didn't know them, but we wanted to be there so bad we could taste it. The thing that I learned is simple - Heroes are everyday people doing extraordinary things. SAPPERS LEAD THE WAY. 1ST Platoon, A co., 41st Engineer Batallion.

Eric Bana is Aussie

Movie recommendation: The Hurt Locker (2008), starring not one, but two actors from the MCU: Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Anthony Mackie (Falcon). Set during the second Gulf War in Iraq, we follow a 3 man US bomb disposal unit. Highly suspenseful, and while critisized for several inaccuracies, to the uninitiated it certainly feels very real and outright raw. It was Jeremy Renner's big break that made his name in Hollywood, and arguably you could say the same for Anthony Mackie. They're both great in it.

Can you do a District 9 reaction soon? It's one of my favorite sci-fi movies, and shot in a semi-documentary fashion. You'd really enjoy it!

Delta operators are a rare breed.

I watched this with my parents and girlfriend yesterday and my mom had to leave because of how intense it got. Normally my dad, girlfriend and I will fall asleep during a movie but none of us did. It's just too insane

The AK-47 and the RPG-7, the greatest Russian inventions of all time. Arming everyone from brutal dictatorships to freedom fighters to private citizens. Also, good donkey is good donkey. As much as Randy and Gary's scene makes me cry (which it usually does), I can't help but chuckle sometimes when Randy is shot because the pistol he's shot with has a 8 round capacity and he gets shot something like 13 or 15 times before it runs dry. I'm also kinda surprised you didn't mention how much the guy talking to Durant looks like you, all the way down to the beard and mustache.

I love this movie.

Another great movie and reaction. Keep em coming!

You need to watch more war movies watch jarhead, the knigdom, captain phillips, pearl harbor, we were soilders

12:00 unless it is a VTOL, taking out the rear roter, no control on spin. Just physics.

I know keni Thomas. Listen to his songs he's a great singer

26:48 - 26:51 this was before assassin creed. But that was good.

One of the best books I've ever read. Highly recommend

This often forgotten mission is what helped terrorists fear the U.S. less. Because we left Somalia after this, it became known that if you made Americans bleed, we would run. After 9/11, the terrorists learned this was not true. Unfortunately, after the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, the terrorist are beginning to believe this again and fear the U.S. military less.

Clinton took over this mission from George Bush Sr. He and his cabinet were far more concerned about the US appearing imperialist than actually supporting the troops properly. His admin rejected Army requests for both armor and AC-130s which would have proven very effective. Les Aspin was Clinton's Defense Secretary and he was in over his head from the start. There are those that like to claim that armor wouldn't have made a difference yet fail to mention that it was less capable Pakistani armor that was called in to extract the prisoners and wounded which means that idea is bullcrap.

Even though I was young when this happened, 13 or so, I remember this all over the news. Such a disaster. This is why we kinda stay out of conflicts in many African countries. It's just not possible to do much or change much. While some things are better, some places still have warlords, guerillas, militias...etc. I always thought of our presence during this incident to be like when we were in Vietnam. Just a mess and waste of money, time, and human lives (on both sides). I may be wrong but the scene with them pulling the bodies out of the helicopter and parading them around, it was shown on the news. It was the first time we seen something saw raw like that. It upset many who had kids in the room. Granted 8 years later would be 9/11 and that changed what we saw even more.

Still one of the best examples of modern warfare captured on screen .also try the outpost with scott Eastwood

Estimates of Samali's killed in this movie is in the hundreds, possibly even thousands. All night long the little bird helicopters flew over the city firing into any crowds of people they saw. Armed or unarmed. By that point in the battle, anyone still in the area was considered an activr combatant. They couldnt risk letting the Samali's gathering into a large enough mob that they could overrun the American positions by sheer numbers. So any groups were fsir game.

Gothic Serpent

At 7:46 is perhaps the *most underrated* quote of the entire film.

Phil Dunphy always weirds me out a little. More than him being in Dawn of the Dead.

One of my favourite movies of all time, timeless

I was in Somalia before and after this event. The movie captures the look very well, even the color grade.

After we took down Hussain's leadership and sifted through all the paperwork about the terrorist training camps it was found that Al-Qaeda was there and responsible for organizing the different War Lords. People who would not give each other the time of day fought as one. I was in Panama with a guy that was in the HMMWV convoy that went to try to relieve the Ranger Chalks and had to be helped by the Pakistanis. They were the only U.N. Troops that tried to do their job and kept being told to stand down by the worthless U.N. leadership.

Some A-10's on deck woulda been nice.....

If you never been to the Middle East or around that region that shit is hot as fuck and you start sweating fast as hell

Ewan McGregor is pronounced as "You-en"

RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!

Very very true and accurate story. At almost all levels.

Not sure who’s in this movie. Everyone

Try the movie "13 Hours". Another true story of a more recent incident. Similar shit show to this one.

The locals delivered the bodies in parts in trash bags the day after the mission. The pilot wasn't hit with a rifle.. it was this a leg ... War is hell.

This movie is fye

Back when this happened you would see footage on the news of the Somalis carrying the bodies of our dead soldiers through the streets.

I don't like watching war movies. All they do is remind me of the politicians who created yet another mess and sent soldiers to their deaths.

Next movie up, True Romance!! 😎

Art of war take the enemies advantage and make it a liability shoot the Blackhawks down bog down the enemy

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

damn, posted 9 seconds ago

This movie was some A+ "let's go to war" propaganda.

Okay I'm just gon say it , As a Somali person this aint accurate, this wasn't even filmed in Mogudashyu, plus it's Somali Not "Somalian" lol that's a derogatory term lol.... 😂

in reality 2-3 bodies US army soldier i think never was retrived ..they tied to cars and run all over the town then what was left hang with ropes in city of some kind , i remember watch de real documentary and it was realy bad