Review: Tears of the Sun

All hell has broken loose in Nigeria, and rebels have assassinated the President and his family. Bruce Willis leads a Navy SEAL team sent there to rescue an American (by marriage) doctor who runs a small Catholic mission in the jungle. There is only a small window of time afforded to them, and when they get there, the good doctor (played by Monica Bellucci) is reluctant to leave without her 70 odd sick/injured patients. The higher-ups (represented by Tom Skerritt with a walkie-talkie) say no, but Willis and his men find themselves having a crisis of conscience. Eamonn Walker, Cole Hauser, Nick Chinlund, and Johnny Messner play the other SEALs, whilst Fionnula Flanagan plays Athene Seyler, from “Inn of the Sixth Happiness”, basically.

 This review was originally posted before the announcement of Willis' illness/retirement and certain comments are obviously no longer relevant. Nonetheless I'd rather add these words than subtract anything, perhaps as a reminder that we don't know someone's personal circumstance.

Remember John Wayne’s “The Green Berets”, the Vietnam war film where the sun ludicrously set in the East? Well this 2003 Antoine Fuqua (the overrated “Training Day”, the inexplicable “King Arthur”) flick may not be anywhere near as offensive or dated as that clunker, but it’s still a clichéd, jingoistic piece of crap, with Bruce Willis seeming to imitate The Duke at his worst. It’s by far the least giveashit performance of his entire career. The film is somewhat critical of the heartless brass giving the orders, but otherwise it’s another rah-rah Yankee Doodle Dandy film about America being the one to settle the disputes of others. If it weren’t so clichéd and boring, I probably wouldn’t mind so much, and the action at the end is well-staged, but by then it is far too late.

 

The colourful scenery (you won’t guess that it’s actually Oahu, not Nigeria) is gorgeously shot by cinematographer Mauro Fiore (“Driven”, “Avatar”), and gives the film a texture it otherwise lacks in the script. Basically, this film is simplistic and corny as fuck, right down to the score by Hans Zimmer (“The Dark Knight”, “Inception”). It might not be as bad as Willis’ “North” or “Colour of Night”, but how can you not groan at clunkers like ‘We’re already engaged!’ when one of Willis’ men warns him of the rules of engagement. The script by Alex Lasker and Patrick Cirillo really does feel like a dusted off John Wayne script, and poor Tom Skerritt is confined to a role that essentially plays like a ticking timer on a bomb, just there to apply some artificial urgency. The antagonists, meanwhile, are given absolutely no depth whatsoever. They’re pantomime villains from out of some silent movie, basically. Cole Hauser tries his best, and although a tad too Avery Brooks (i.e. Inappropriately Shakespearean) at times with his booming voice, Eamonn Walker has undeniable screen presence and charisma. Monica Bellucci, meanwhile, is one of the world’s most stunning movie stars, unquestionably, and is perfectly OK under the circumstances. Her role, however, is probably the biggest cliché of all.

 

I guess if you like simplistic, Cannon-esque rah-rah action entertainments, you might tolerate this film, but even so you’re dealing with an incredibly clichéd film with no character depth whatsoever and some of the most eye-rolling dialogue you’ve ever heard. Even if you’re OK with American intervention in foreign disputes (and the second Iraq War was firmly in my mind when I originally watched- and hated- this back in 2003), it doesn’t adequately deal with its message about senseless slaughter, nor does it remotely entertain as an action/war film. And what would’ve happened if Bellucci weren’t married to a Yank? Exactly...

 

Rating: D