Unlike John Williams' restrained scoring for the quieter moments of Spielberg's superb WW2 film, Zimmer throws himself into the action with a vibrant, but very eclectic score. Curiously, around the release date he appeared on daytime UK television and was describing how they put army netting in his studio for atmosphere and pushed himself and the musicians to create something worthy of the soldiers who died during the incident that the film describes. One can't help but feel that, while those efforts might have been noble, it does seem an ever so slightly pretentious approach and I'd have thought that the event itself should be inspiration enough. Admittedly the score is good and worked well in the film, although it is about as eclectic as they come.
Unlike the smooth fusion of modern, classical and barbaric for Gladiator, the fusion here is much more head long and wild. He did admit that he wanted the music to have the same kind of rush as the graphic depiction of war and to an extent he succeeds. Musically mirroring the clash of cultures; the theoretically superior Americans and the Somalis who are caught up in the conflict over which they have almost no control. There are some reasonably easy to spot Zimmer mannerisms, but much of the music plays like a stream of acoustic (albeit small ensembles or soloists) and digital consciousness and to that end is unlikely to appeal to everyone. Indeed, this is one of those occasions where the entire score will be enjoyed, but half by one person and the other half by the other person.
I am not entirely sure what to make of Black Hawk Down, the fusion is dynamic and not especially distracting, but I can't honestly say that some of it appeals to me greatly. Quite a lot sounds like a Ministry of Sound compilation with various ethnic effects thrown on top which gives the music the right kind of locale as well as the propulsion it requires but not being a fan of either genre all that much, I couldn't honestly say I felt it was good. Those expecting an Africa Thin Red Line will probably be disappointed, but for a colourful and vibrant head long explosion of ethnic, percussive, digital and vocal, you can't go far wrong and certainly a vastly superior slice of modern scoring technique.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 66:54