Black Hawk DownMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 74 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 Iffy for 17+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    Black Hawk turns nightmare into great cinema. Read full review

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Bob Graham

    It is an exceptional accomplishment. Read full review

  • 100
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    His is a triumph of pure filmmaking, a pitiless, unrelenting, no-excuses war movie so thoroughly convincing it's frequently difficult to believe it is a staged re-creation. Read full review

  • 100
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    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. Read full review

  • 90
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    A personal best for producer Jerry Bruckheimer, a triumph for Scott and a war film of prodigious power. You will be shaken. Read full review

  • 90
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    The next worst thing to being there. That's how real it feels. Read full review

  • 80
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    You're drawn in, like it or not. You can't get away from the immediacy. Or the feeling that you're getting sucked in, too. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Even an audience moved to tender patriotism might wonder how Scott, a proven master of ''Gladiator''-size visual showmanship, could have bombed away the personality of every man fighting until he's left with nothing more than pure combat. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Goes down like stiff medicine, leaving one feeling exhausted relief when it's finally over. Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    Sitting through the accomplished but meaningless Black Hawk Down is like being trapped in an action film version of "Groundhog Day," condemned to sit through the same carnage over and over. Read full review


Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 17+ Violent depiction of a risky rescue; adults only.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this film is extremely violent. If parents do allow their teens to watch, they should be aware that the sad and often violent scenes are traumatic. While it does not include as much foul language as often found in contemporary war films, the violence is extremely graphic and non-stop. American soldiers are bloodily and graphically killed from the beginning until the end. This film is in no way recommended for kids under seventeen.
  • Families can talk about issues regarding life, death, war, and honor. Why did the soldiers return to the ground to continue fighting? Do you think it was right to send soldiers there in the first place? How may this conflict relate to ones in the present? Parents may also want to discuss this film's historical accuracy by comparing it against a documentary that covers the same events.
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The film does show valiant attempts by Special Forces troops to rescue their trapped comrades, but it does not really investigate the causes of the conflict. It also avoids dealing with the number of Somalis that were killed in the maneuver. This may complicate the portrayals of both the Americans and the militia.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: EXTREMELY graphic deaths of soldiers (dismemberment, beatings, impaling, etc.). Killing of civilians, starvation, the killing and roasting of a wild boar.
  • sex false0 Sex: Not an issue
  • language false3 Language: Swearing by soldiers (but actually less than one might expect).
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue

Black Hawk Down Movie Ratings + Reviews

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