Rating: Summary: Two hours of my life I'll never get back Review: In watching this movie, I feel a deep contrast to the director's other well known film, "Training Day," in that "Training Day" was a film with intrinsic watchability, obvious merit, and was well done in every aspect, while "Tears of the Sun" struck me as being purile and poorly executed. The question on my mind is simply this: how can professional soldiers be so...unprofessional? From the instant when the LT. (played by Bruce Willis) starts ignoring direct orders, he puts his team, his mission, his orders, his life, and the life of the doctor he was sent to rescue into jeopardy all on a personal whim. The bad thing is, it only gets worse. He intentionally flouts the chain of command, initiates combat when he has no such authorization, creates an international incident in absconding with the son of the slain president, gets half his team slain, ends up getting the "rescued" villagers either killed or injured, returns his mission objective to a dangerous, potentially deadly situation after rescuing her, and gets her wounded. (almost killed) Even though he was doing the moral thing, he wasn't doing the right thing, and his mistake could potentially been measured in the blood of his team and his countrymen. (This is also ignoring the fact that he, all of his team and the captain who allowed one of his officers to disobey him would all be court martialed and/or imprisoned for escalating an already volatile situation by directly attacking the uniformed troops and officers of the newly recognized regime of the country.) Aside from the above criticism, the movie had one enjoyable (and oddly realistic) scene: when the Lt. and his team assaulted the village where the people were being masacred. I thought it showed the competence of a SEAL unit and their combat training well.All-in-all, a thoroughly disappointing flick. (I highly recommend this for those who enjoyed watching "Behind Enemy Lines")
Rating: Summary: a quite wonderful movie. Review: this is a very good movie. the story is simple and kinda cliched, but the performance, directing, editing are all good enough to be praised as a GOOD movie. there is only one stupid glitch in the end: choppers arrived refugee camp almost at the same time as the two supersonic fighters finished the bombing, don't know choppers can fly as fast as jet fighters. another crap is the aircarrier's captain would fly in on one of the supersonic choppers to lend a supporting hand to a small combatant team, that's quite ridiculous.
Rating: Summary: Hasn't anyone noticed??? Review: Hasn't anyone noticed that Tears of the Sun bears a striking resemblance to a 1965 film called Dark of the Sun, based on a Wilbur Smith novel of the same name? Heck, even the titles are similiar! In fact, the differences between the two films are in the details, not the setting or theme. For instance, Curry--the protagonist in Dark of the Sun--is a mercenary soldier; in Tears, Bruce Willis and company are Navy SEALs; the rescued diamond miners and their families in Dark of the Sun were transformed into indigenous tribesmen for Tears; and the Macguffin-like cache of diamonds in Dark of the Sun metamorphs into the young son of the murdered president in Tears. Don't get me wrong--this is not a criticism of Tears of the Sun, a pretty fine film. I just think Mr. Fuqua is another fan of that old Rod Taylor, Jim Brown, Yvette Mimieux classic, as am I. Hey, MGM, when are you gonna release a nice, clean, widescreen print of Dark of the Sun on DVD?
Rating: Summary: Tears of the sun Review: Tears of the sun was no doubt the best war movie made since saving private ryan.Tears of the sun had excellent action scences great plot I would give it TWO THUMBS ALL THE WAY UP.
Rating: Summary: A crying shame Review: "Tears of the Sun" is, on a technical level, a good movie. The camera work dose an excellent job showing us the African rain forest (though actually shot in Hawaii.) The forest is a lush green and looks damp, hot, deep and some times forboding. The loam mountains in the distance are also beautiful to look at. This movie is great for a tourist promotion. Now for the bad news. The plot and charactors are nothing new. The story is that African militia is growing more powerful and an over throw in the local government seems likly. So Bruce Willis and his team of U.S. Navy Seals are sent into a small missionary hospital outpost to retrieve a nurse, actually a U.S. citizen by marriage. She refuses to leave unless all her patients can go as well. At first he agrees, only to get her to go along. But then he changes his mind and actually starts leading all of them to the border where more U.S. forces can get them all out. This movie bares a strong resemblence to "Blackhawk Down" in terms of heros asking themselves what's the point. Bruce Willis, good as he is, dose not come off the brooding warrior that Josh Harnett dose, even though it seems like Willis has seen more and should be more weary that his younger counter part. We all know where the story is going, thus making it predictable. I will give the writters credit for avoiding the temptation to develop a romance between Willis and the pretty nurse. Thanks guys. So, it's great scenery, average plot that gose no where new, and somewhat subpar acting.
Rating: Summary: Tears touches the soul Review: A brilliantly conceived and executed war movie. Bruce Willis is less Die Hard and more real and compassionate, although clearly flawed. He and his platoon of Navy Seals force themselves into facing what they have stood down from many times in the past. It means disobeying orders and putting themselves at greater risk, but they do it, to atone for their past sins. The result is a story of gruesome intensity mingled with empathy and spiritual and physical redemption. I highly recommend it. Some have doubted that the situations portrayed in this movie could ever actually exist. But ethnic cleansing and other war and brutality is rampant up and down Africa, lest you forget Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe among others. And brutality and religious persecution continue in Nigeria, which was in fact embroiled in a civil war and military dictatorship a few years back and still stuns the world with inexplicable and hideous responses to something like the Miss World contest, which resulted in another massacre. You might say Tears of the Sun took the cliche of making the setting dense rainforest-like vegetation, but a bit of research reveals that a good portion of Nigeria is in fact dense rainforest-like vegetation.
Rating: Summary: Tears Of The Disappointed... Review: You know, from all of the advertising and promotion for this film, you get the idea that 'Tears Of The Sun' promises to be a nice blend of macho action heroics and remorseful anti-war sentiment. Well, that's what it wanted to be. In the end, it's not any of that by a long shot. There are two blaringly obvious problems with this movie. Let's talk about them a little. The first and most obvious setback with 'Tears Of The Sun' is that it tries to be both an action flick and an anti-war film at the same time and just cancels itself out in the process. The plot, about an elite team of Navy SEALS (aren't they all supposed to be elite?) are assigned to save a doctor who is American by marriage from possible death at the hands of militant guerillas in the remote jungles of an African nation in revolutionary turmoil. Pretty heady stuff, right? It sure would make for a compelling film, right? I agree. Unfortunately, director Antoine Fuqua has studder-stepped here with this heartless hole of a movie. The dialogue is stilted and wooden, even coming from such actors as Bruce Willis, (the team leader) Monica Belluci, (the stubbornly stupid doctor) and Tom Skerritt (Willis' commander). This brings me to the second problem with this film. There is zero character development in this movie. None. Not even a smidgen. You'd think with all of the high-minded ambition teeming in this movie, just waiting to bubble over and take effect, that there'd be some great character moments. There's not a one. Bruce Willis' character is as emtionless and uninteresting as they come. We don't even get a single tiny hint as to why he's such a space cadet. He just is. On the other hand, his performance is oscar-caliber compared to the epic blunder that's disguised as Monica Belluci's painfully annoying performance. As the tactless and inconsiderate doctor in charge of a refuge/mission for African dissidents of that specific nation, she is completely annoying and throughly aggravating. I was hoping the team would give up and hand her over to the rebel guerillas just for the sake of relief. The rest of the SEAL team is so forgettable, you'll wonder if there even was a team at all after the movie is over. Unsympathetic characters that not even the most vacuous of personalities can relate to does not make a good movie even marginally passable by any stretch of the imagination. The only reason I warranted the film with two stars instead of one, is that the cinematography is very nice, potraying the African jungle wilderness as dangerous and beautiful all at once. Also, you can tell that Willis and Skerritt and a few others are really trying to break free from the frozen script and do some good here, however they don't really hit the mark. Bottom Line: 'Tears Of The Sun' is an empty and failed hybrid of an action flick and war film with lifeless chracters, but has some nice scenery and decent but pointless action battles. If you're a fan of this stuff, wait for video at best. Everyone else will be alright without it.
Rating: Summary: A little for everyone Review: Lots of things that go boom for the little boys in us all. Politics and social criticism for the thinker as well. Not for the faint of heart, ugly scenes with evil armed men. Bruce Willis plays a thoughtful, had-enough-of-the-evil in this world LT sent to rescue a italian-american doctor in Nigeria. Civil War has broken out and both she and 3 Catholic Church workers are in danger. Nigeria has oil, the different groups are fighting for control of the money flow, and butchering anyone in their way. Child soldiers, rape as a means of terror, keeping your word and honesty. All touched on, but the movie is finally a shoot-em-up bang bang movie. Nicely done, gives you enough justification to root for the good guys and holler when the bad guys get wasted. Worth a watch, if nothing else then for the absolutely beautiful scenery.
Rating: Summary: Evil will triumph when good men do nothing Review: Director Antoine Fuqua never realized how timely his tale would be. Tears of the Sun is yet another war movie, but it is put together well, plus it delivers a strong message without being preachy. Bruce Willis takes on a new direction (ok, he doesn't) as Lt. AK Waters, a hardened, war-weary commander sent to rescue an American doctor in the jungles of Nigeria. His by-the-book approach to his mission becomes tested after witnessing the atrocities committed against the unarmed townspeople and the missionaries with them. Waters later discovers there is a lot more at stake than simply the mission and his men. The real scene-stealer is Monica Belluci as Doctor Lena Kendricks. Taking the new #1 spot on my 'most beautiful' list, I fear she may have been miscast simply for the fact that she's so damn good-looking I couldn't pay attention to the movie. The photography is spectacular, the action scenes are riveting, and Hans Zimmer's masterful composition enhances the movie perfectly. A lot of criticism has been leveled at this movie for being jingoistic, probably because the commandos are actually competent. Others focused on the supposed love interest between Willis and Belluci. I'm not sure these criticisms are even relevant, but I will say that the make-up work (especially in the finale) borders on halloween funny. Regardless, if you can look past this and the all too familiar cast, (right down to Tom Skerritt as the "Captain"), you'll agree that the moral dilemma presented by Fuqua is forcefully and powerfully delivered, even if you don't necessarily agree with the decisions made.
Rating: Summary: Disappointed! Review: After watching tis movie, i will only recommend people to watch tis for 2 reasons: firstly, the touching moments of war movies and, secondly, for Bruce Willis. I was pretty disappointed tat there wasnt much excitement of the usual bombing and blasting of a war movie. A different twist to war movies? Maybe. And most of the time the scenes were too dark to make out wat was goin on! Sure it was touching but i was kinda expecting more from tis movie. If you have time, watch it. If not, u can skip it.
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