Tears of the Sun
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Starring: Tom Skerritt, Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci, Cole Hauser
Synopsis: In director Antoine Fuqua's ("Training Day") new action-adventure film, Bruce Willis stars as Lt. A.K. Waters, the loyal veteran officer of a Navy S.E.A.L unit. When he's sent into the heart of Africa, the usually hard-bitten Waters finds himself deeply conflicted at having to choose between following orders and the dictates of his own conscience. Lt. Waters travels to war-torn Nigeria to rescue Dr. Lena Kendricks (Bellucci), a U.S. citizen who runs a mission in the countryside. But when Lt. Waters arrives Dr. Kendricks refuses to abandon the refugees under her care. She implores Waters to escort them on a dangerous trek through the dense jungle to the nearby border of Cameroon. During the journey, the S.E.A.Ls find themselves the unwitting guardians of a man sought by the rebel militia.
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| Tears of the Sun (2003) (Widescreen - Spec. Ed.) | | | | | Tears of the Sun - Score | | NA | NA |
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Review: Maybe it's me, but I'm not seeing the reason behind all the hype for this director Antoine Fuqua. With Training Day he made a genre flick complete with the 'oh-my-god' type of coincidence that makes me cringe (Hawke saves a little girl who then helps him later) and with Tears of the Sun he takes a pretty nasty scenario and throws cliche after cliche at the screen.
I was kind of joking the other day saying I take a star off a film's rating for everytime I roll my eyes in painful disbelief. Well...if that is true, then Tears of the Sun gets a measly 2 stars. That's right, three major eye rolling sequences.
This may irk some people but I HAVE A real problem when a trained, weather military man acts his code, against his training and defies orders because, he's not sure but feels it may be the right thing to do.
I also have a real problem when guerilla forces are closing in and the two leads begin discussing how they got where they are, why she works in a mission and why he does what he does. Yes, these are character development moments...and there is no way to have these moments without seeming trite...unless you simply do not have them. Let the audience make up some back story for themselves.
Having said that though, at least the pairing of Waters (Willis) and Dr. Hendricks (Bellucci) doesn't ever get to the kissing because we just met and could die tripe we usually get thrown at us.
Fuqua is a pretty solid by-the-numbers director...some nice scenery...some great fire fight sequences and there is a moment in the film that you can't help but receive some nasty satisfaction as American Troops take out the horrible guerilla's. You feel like some of the 6 o'clock news is being tossed out the window and the cavalry is coming...but you have to question the cost. The rah-rah attitude is muted in parts (until the very end which is my third eye-rolling moment) but the movie is merely a mess of cliches.
Fuqua and writers Alex Lasker and Patrick Cirillo attempt to make this more than just an action flick, to show consequences, and to instill the idea that evil perpetuates unless the good take action (and some quote ends out the movie to this affect) but it is all for naught. The intentions are good, the movie is not. Unfortunately you only get half a star for good intentions and the movie gets two stars on top of that for some moments that elevate it above a b-movie action flick...but all in all, it feels hollow.
Final tally: 2.5 out of 5.
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Copyright© Written By: Rob Paul
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DVD Information:
Director's Commentary
Africa Fact Track
Find the Lost Boys Featurette
Interactive Map Of Africa
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