Overview:
During a point in history where war and terrorism is threatening everyday life, Tears of the Sun could not have come out at a more meaningful time. Set in present day Nigeria, a massive coup has paralyzed much of the country. Bruce Willis is sent in on an evacuation mission where everything goes horribly awry. The message is clear but there is something left to be desired in this film. It is a good Saturday night movie, but don’t get too excited.

Review:
As intelligence reports flood in over news wires about more and more chaos in Nigeria, the United States decides to move in to take action. Tears of the Sun does not focus on the political aspect of this conflict. Instead the film centers in on the human facet of war. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) is inserted into Nigeria to rescue Christian aid workers from a brutal Muslim coup d'état. Upon arrival, Willis finds his targets and forces them to leave. Unfortunately Dr. Lena Hendricks (Monica Bellucci) will not leave her patients to be murdered. Eventually she convinces Waters to bring a dozen or so patients that can walk on their own. As the helicopters land Willis pushes the doctor inside as the refugees are left on the landing zone. Waters is only told to secure a few people and everyone else is expendable. As they fly over the camp they see it was set ablaze and everyone viciously murdered. A wave of guilt washes over the soldiers as they land back where the abandoned refugees were. Willis decides to take them out of Nigeria to Cameroon with the horde not far behind.
 
Not only is Tears of the Sun a decent action movie, it also delivers an important point in regards to war. Although not as poignant as Platoon or Full Metal Jacket, it has its points. The cruelty of the rebels shows how terrifying and destructive war is. One scene in particular where Waters and his crew come across a squad of rebels purifying a village through heinous acts of torture and rape rings a solemn tone. Lives are lost in war; it’s a blatant fact. Regardless of who it is, it’s still tragic, and Tears of the Sun portrays this. Another significant dilemma is weather or not the American troops should ditch thee refugees and save their own skin. Besides that’s not their job. Of course they decide to make the right choice and escape the country with everyone. Strangely no matter how fast they march, it mysteriously seems that rebels are right on their tails; forcing them to come to some interesting conclusions.

Willis and the rest of his squad don’t say much, and maybe they don’t have to. Regrettably the lack of dialogue between the soldiers leaves them quite two dimensional and unrealistic. I felt that when someone was killed, I didn’t feel upset or saddened because the characters weren’t delivered well. I didn’t know who these people were and I wasn’t moved by their deaths. Bruce Willis was also like this. He wasn’t emphatic enough, and it took away from the Waters persona. I wasn’t looking for a dynamic Rambo like character, but some emotion would have been a lot better.

The fire fights in Tears of the Sun were worth the price of the ticket. Almost at the border of Nigeria, the rebels are in hot pursuit of the extraction team. In a spectacular display of explosions and bullets they start to run for the fenced border of Cameroon. I found the pyrotechnics to be fitting for the film. They weren’t overdone like some movies, but they were enough to portray the chaos of the event. One thing that I noticed that I found interesting was the fact that there were AK-47’s in the movie. I wondered if there is any part of the world that they are not used. Overall I say that the plot was well written, seeing as that it focuses on conflict that isn’t in the news very often. Aside from the conflict in the Middle East there is combat all over the world. It breathes fresh air into an atmosphere heavily laden with content from the East.

Acting:
I enjoyed some of the acting. What was there was not too bad. Unfortunately for the emphasis of the movie to be placed on the brutality of war, the director didn’t spend too much time with dialogue. There are only a few scenes where there is some significant character development, but alas there isn’t enough for the viewer to decipher the characters. Bruce Willis plays a stern faced squad leader who just wants to get his job down without any problems. But he really knows that he is already involved in this whole mess. His counterpart, the attractive, sassy Dr. Lena Hendricks played by Monica Bellucci also has a hard time following others orders, and proves to be a match for A.K Waters. Although she is not as seasoned as Bruce Willis she isn’t norrible.

Directing:
Antoine Fuqua directed Tears of the Sun. He is also the director of Training Day. I thought he did an admirable job for a Saturday night movie. Although it lacks certain aspects to call it a masterpiece, it was worth the price of the ticket and the length of the film. Fuqua focused on the tragedy of war, and it came across very well. For example, the rebels would “cleanse” a village by murdering anyone not of their religion. They would sever women’s breasts so they couldn’t feed their children and eventually die a horribly painful death. Lovely isn’t it? The fact is that this is the face of war. No matter how fancy the media tries to glamorize it, its still murder. Aside from political rhetoric Antoine worked well with the cast and crew.

Final Thoughts:
Overall I give Tears of the Sun three and a half planets. I enjoyed the storyline, the setting, and the action scenes were tremendous. Not only the visual aspect of the film was enjoyable, but the music was just as good. Hans Zimmer produced the score did score with a rich rhythmic African beat to it. He also added tribal chanting and tribal drums. It created an exotic and different sound to such a film. I liken it to the soundtrack to Black Hawk Down; with its Middle Eastern style and Arabic vocals. I didn’t like the lack of character description no matter how much the absence of speaking meant. Some directors and writers can explain without words (i.e: Stanley Kubrick, Geroge Orwell) and it speaks volumes. Tears of the Sun could have had more character development with conversation and still have been powerful.


Jameson Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Planets


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