We just got back from seeing BHD in Century City. I don't want to spoil it for anyone so [red]STOP READING NOW[/red] if you'd rather not read a review before you see it.
I will say that this was an AWESOME flick. If you liked the book, you'll love the movie. As far as I could tell, the movie stayed true to the book and there were only a few minor differences in the sequence of events, nothing that detracted from the story. There were no major surprises for me because I knew who made it out alive and who got zapped, but my wife OTOH was sitting on the edge of her seat putting a death grip on my arm! The action was pretty intense most of the time, from the go-ahead "Irene" all the way to a few minutes from the end.

The attention to detail was very good, and I didn't notice the M60 firing crimped blanks like SMGLee mentioned in another thread. I'd have to look for it next time I see the movie. The weapons were the same as I recall in the book, Shughart's aimpoint equipped M14, Durant's MP5, and the movie had Randy Gordon with a suppressed XM177. ICBW, but I don't recall that in the book. Some of the D-boys had what looked like XM177s with 10" or 11" barrels. That's been the subject of many a discussion on this board, and it's sure to start some more.

Their choice of shooting in Morocco was a good one, because the scenes were pretty damned close to what I envisioned when I read the book, the dusty streets, the hangar, the Olympic Hotel and the view of Mog from the air, the stadium where triage was set up, and a very intense firefight that had little letup for close to 18 hours. As I recall, in the book the "little birds" with the GE miniguns gave more air support than in the movie, but they did blast a bunch of skinnies in several scenes, eliciting a "alright, got them bastards" from my wife. ;) Something that seemed to be missing was dead sammies strewn all over the streets, and the Somali militia using them for cover.

The movie showed the mistakes mentioned in the book, like leaving NVGs and water behind because it was only going to be a 30 minute mission, and the emotions were captured well, like Eversmann's (Josh Hartnett) distress over Cpl. Smith's death and Danny McKnight's (Tom Sizemore) anger about the confusion of the convoy getting directions. There was even a little comic relief, the guy who's buddy shot a M60 right next to his ear and made him deaf the rest of the time. "Don't you EVER shoot that thing next to me again!"... braaapppt!!!... "Huh?"

I want to see this movie again, but I'll wait til it plays closer to my house so I don't have to drive so far. I give it 5 stars out of 5.

One last thing. They played a preview of "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young" starring Mel Gibson and directed by the guy who directed Braveheart. A true story about the battle of Ia Drang in Viet Nam, the book was recommended by members of this board and the movie looks like it will be a good one. I don't know when it's coming out.

[red]SPOILER WARNING STILL APPLIES[/red]


SS109, I think the reason the movie was pre-released now is so it has a shot at the academy awards next spring. There will probably be some minor differences when the movie is finalized and released nationwide on Jan. 18. It ran almost 2.5 hours so I'd be curious to see what makes the final cut.

The book was gut-wrenching for me too. Several times I had to put it down and gather myself. Parts of the movie were very hard for me to watch, because I know these were real men who fought a real fight and died real deaths. When Cpl Smith died and when Shughart and Gordon got killed were gut-wrenching scenes.

A final thought. Ahead of time, I imagined the movie would end with applause or cheers or some other expressions of appreciation of the movie. It didn't end that way. It was very solemn and quiet when people made their way to the exits and I don't think I was the only one rubbing their eyes.

I opened up the paper this morning and there was a good review, so I found it online here. This link to the Long Beach Press-Telegram will probably be good for a day or so.

[url]http://www.ptconnect.com/archive/life/0102/01/lif02.asp[/url]