Special Features:
DISC ONE: Audio commentary: Jerry Bruckheimer (Producer) & Ridley Scott (Director)  �  Audio commentary: Mark Bowden (Author) & Ken Nolan (Screenwriter)  �  Audio commentary: U.S. Special Forces Veterans (�93).

DISC TWO: The Essense of Combat: Making Black Hawk Down  �  8 Deleted & alternate scenes with optional commentary  �  Production design archive  �  Storyboards with optional commentary  �  Ridleygrams with optional commentary  �  Jerry Bruckheimer�s Black Hawk Down photo album  �  Opening title explorations  �  Photo gallery

DISC THREE: The History Channel Presents: The True Story of Black Hawk Down  �  PBS Presents: Frontline: Ambush in Mogadishu  �  Interactive mission map/timeline  �  Target Building Insertion - multi-angle sequence with optional commentary  �  Question & Answer Forums, BAFTA - Ridley Scott, Jerry Bruckheimer, Josh Hartnett, Ewen McGregor, Jason Isaaca, Mark Bowden & Tom Matthews  �  �Gortoz A Ran - J�Attends� music video performed by Denez Prigent & Lisa Gerrard  �  Theatrical poster explorations  �  Theatrical trailerr

A couple of years ago two war movies came out that were both produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starred Josh Hartnett. One was the biggest piece of garbage from that summer (Pearl Harbor) and the other (Black Hawk Down) was one of the best movies of 2001. Director (the talented Ridley Scott vs the talented, but complete hack Michael Bay) and the expected audience can change everything.

The setup of Black Hawk Down is simple enough. It is October 1993 and our Army is part of a UN Peace keeping mission. Civil War has torn Somalia apart and it is our military's feeling that if General Aidid (one of Somalia's ruling warlords) is removed from power that stability may return to the area. (Whether this was a truly sound premise is not the point of this movie, so in the end it makes no difference) The first hour of the film is spent going through some of those details and briefly meeting about 40 soldiers. Their mission will be to extract a group of Aidid's aides from a meeting that is taking place in the middle of the city of Mogadishu.

The plan is simple enough. Choppers will take in a group of both Deltas and Rangers. The Rangers will sweep and clear the building and retrieve the targets while the Rangers will provide support. At this point a truck convoy will pick up the targets and return them to the base. In and out in about 30 minutes. The basic strategy and assumption for the mission are right out front for the audience. When things start to vary from the plan it will be very obvious.

Things start to go wrong almost immediately when a new Ranger falls from the Black Hawk he is in. They groups quickly recover and get him to safety. At this point nothing more than a minor set back. What quickly sends the situation into a downward spiral is when one of the Black Hawks providing support is taken down with an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade). Suddenly all the initiative has swung towards the rebels. The basic code of the Rangers and Deltas is that no soldier is left behind no matter what, so instead of being able to extract themselves and the targets they must now get to the downed Black Hawk and protect it while thousand of Somalies with automatic weapons approach the site.

Then next 1:30 is a movie going experience like no other. This is the closest any movie will ever get to making you feel like to have been through some small part of what war feels like. Saving Private Ryan has similar moments, but nothing like this movie.

More importantly what this movie really showed is how coordinated you must be as a group to get through situations like these. Each person has their area to cover and not doing your job could mean one of your buddies (or yourself) being killed. This is beautifully explained by one of the Deltas who tells his comrade that it isn't about war but about the guy next to you.