Tears of the Sun (2003)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Antoine Fuqua

Writers (WGA):

Alex Lasker (written by) &
Patrick Cirillo (written by)

Release Date:

7 March 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller | War

Tagline:

He was trained to follow orders. He became a hero by defying them.

Plot:

Bruce Willis plays a Special-Ops commander who leads his team into the jungle of Nigeria to rescue a doctor played by Monica Belluci who will only go with them if they agree to rescue 70 refugees too.

Plot Keywords:

Refugee | Rebel | Doctor | Jungle | Nigeria

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Bruce Willis	...	Lieutenant A.K. Waters
Monica Bellucci	...	Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks
Cole Hauser	...	James 'Red' Atkins
Eamonn Walker	...	Ellis 'Zee' Pettigrew
Johnny Messner	...	Kelly Lake
Nick Chinlund	...	Michael 'Slo' Slowenski
Charles Ingram	...	Demetrius 'Silk' Owens
Paul Francis	...	Danny 'Doc' Kelley
Chad Smith	...	Jason 'Flea' Mabry
Tom Skerritt	...	Captain Bill Rhodes
Malick Bowens	...	Colonel Idris Sadick
Awaovieyi Agie	...	Musa
Akosua Busia	...	Patience
Hadar Busia-Singleton	...	Amaka
Ida Onyango	...	Lasana

Also Known As:

Hostile Act (USA) (working title)
Hostile Rescue (USA) (working title)
Man of War (USA) (working title)
Rules of Engagement (USA) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong war violence, some brutality and language.

Runtime:

121 min | 142 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:Not Rated (director's extended cut) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:U | Spain:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:14A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Dole Plantation - 64-1550 Kamehameha Highway, Wahiawa, O`ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Cheyenne Enterprises

Trivia:

Tensions between Director Antoine Fuqua and Bruce Willis emerged soon after principle photography began, ending with each vowing never to work with the other again.

Goofs:

Continuity: After the explosion injures some of the refugees, Dr. Kendricks is holding the side of her head in close-ups but is not in the wider shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Female news reader: [voiceover] The tension that had been brewing for months in Nigeria exploded yesterday as exiled General Mustafa Yakubu orchestrated a swift and violent coup against the democratically elected government of President Samuel Azuka. In a land with 120 million people and over 250 ethnic groups...

Movie Connections:

References Geheimcode: Wildgänse (1984)

Enjoyable drama set in an undeclared war...

The world we live in is a dangerous, unstable place, and nowhere is this more evident than in Africa, the place where many things of our world, AIDS included, are said to originate. Indeed, about the only thing that cannot be found in Africa is oil, which makes American interest in the region difficult to imagine, leave alone explain. So when we are presented with a story about a war in Africa, it only stands to reason that we must ask exactly why we see American soldiers.

Bruce Willis gives a delightfully underacted performance as the leader of an infantry unit sent to retrieve a handful of American citizens. Things get complicated when the primary objective refuses to leave without dozens of her patients. Instead of simply escorting one woman to safe territory, the party winds up in a race to the Cameroon border with one substantial territorial force in pursuit. Exactly why this force pursues them, we don't know until the climactic battles are about to take place, but it works.

Indeed, the actors here are not even noticeable, excepting maybe Tom Skerritt, who looks as if he spent his salary on diet pills. Instead, the sumptuous locations and cinematography, along with the action, are the stars of this film. This is a good old-fashioned action film, in spite of its very relevant story. What makes it stand out is that instead of modern action where nobody can see enough of what is going on for it to matter or make sense, we get our action scenes the old fashioned way. Blood spurts, detailed shots of the guns going off, or weapons striking flesh, are a reality rather than a much lamented unfulfilled requisite.

There are some problems, but they are minor in the grand scheme of things. When one shows fighter planes dropping air-to-surface weapons, it is usually an idea to get those weapons right. Using air-to-air missiles to drop napalm, for example, is not on. At least the dire action films of the 1980s used weapons in a manner that was convincing. The believability of a commanding officer allowing such violations of orders is very difficult to imagine, to say the least. Then again, given that these minor lapses happen once or twice during a two-hour film, this can be overlooked.

I gave Tears Of The Sun a seven out of ten. It's not at the level of a Verhoeven action film, or even a Cameron action film. It is, on the other hand, a good piece of entertainment with a decent and human edge, with sequences that have been competently shot. Which puts it ahead of a lot of films on today's market already.