Review of Tears of the Sun (2003) by Loyal D — 29 Mar 2014
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, (Training Day (2001), King Arthur (2004) and Olympus Has Fallen (2013)), this war film originally started out life as Die Hard 4, although that never happened, Bruce Willis held on to the screenplay and had it rejigged to become a war film set in Africa.
It went out with all good intentions but it is a bit half baked and could have done with a better script. In war torn Nigeria, an elite U.S. Navy SEAL team is sent by Captain Bill Rhodes (Tom Skerritt), to extract "critical persona" from the Nigerian Jungle.
The team is led by Lieutenant A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis), and his team include Atkins (Cole Hauser), Zee (Eamonn Walker), Lake (Johnny Messner) and Slowenski (Nick Chinlund). They find who they're looking for, Dr.
Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci). They're to get her out of Nigeria, as there's dangerous Guerella rebels in the area. But, Kendricks refuses to leave without the refugees she's treating, the ill ones escape by helicopter, but everyone else has to walk to the border.
It should have been a good war film, but it's let down by a banal and cliched script, which is a shame. Plus, because of political tensions in Africa and for budget reasons, the makers were forced to make the film in Hawaii, which only doubles as Nigeria to a point.
But, even Willis, seems bored by this whole enterprise. Pity really.
This review of Tears of the Sun (2003) was written by Loyal D on 29 Mar 2014.
Tears of the Sun has generally received positive reviews.
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