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Father Gianni: Go with God!
Lt. A.K. Waters: God already left Africa.
Antoine Fuqua director of the recent Oscar nominated masterpiece "Training Day",
takes on this heavy-handed war epic about a group of Navy SEALS who must go to
an African village and seize church servants and doctor Lena Kendricks who will
not leave unless she can take her patients with her to safety. Now after
breaking orders, air transport becomes stalled they must now lead the doctor and
the refugees to the border to safety where they'll be free of the rebel's
tyranny.
I'm often a fan of war
films despite the endless crop of films out there concerning such a topic, but I
was very weary on whether I really wanted to venture into another war film. With
basic duds like "We were Soldiers" and "Pearl Harbor" which were patriotic
bologna, and "Behind Enemy Lines" which was far-fetched and really made no sense
I was very skeptical if Bruce Willis (a man who's film career hasn't really
clicked with me) would be able to pull off a starring role in a basic
melodramatic war flick.
Though the general plot
is contrived from "Saving Private Ryan" I was still open to the possibility that
this might be good considering it co-starred Cole Hauser, a very underrated
character actor. Luckily I was given more than I expected; I'm assuming my
expectations were so low, that "Tears of the Sun" actually became very exciting
and entertaining for me to watch. We get a look at a group of well-kept tight
knit all business Navy SEALS whom make good use of camouflage makeup and are led
by Lt. Walker who leads them with an iron fist; I love how these men view their
missions as simple ways to serve their country but soon begin to really absorb
the horrors taking place before them.
At one point when they've
witnessed a woman raped and her breasts cut off, the African rebels quickly
zeroing in on their location, they're given the last resort of fighting their
way out of the fields to the border and one soldier remarks "I can't look at
them as just packages, anymore". It's a comment that best shows the
transformation of these soldiers we witness before our eyes as they find no
other resort but witness these atrocities head on and begin forming emotions for
the victims. Director Fuqua skillfully deserves a lot of credit for creating a
potentially exciting and thought provoking war epic as he takes on this
heavy-handed War drama that seemed very much like "Apocalypse Now" focusing a
lot more on the psychology behind war rather than taking on war head first.
I was very intrigued to
watch each man's transformation including Willis' character whom is all business
and cold at the opener and begins feel for these poor people and villagers. When
Willis promises Bellucci's character her patients can be taken to safety with
her, he breaks his promise and she fights him relentlessly as he forces her onto
the rescue copter. As they fly over a ravaged village, he glances over to the
pilot and orders him to turn back and pick up the villagers, when one of his
soldiers asks why, he replies "I'm not sure, yet." We get some great
performances from great character actor Cole Hauser, Eomonn Walker, and Monica
Bellucci who all provide some truly interesting characters to behold. The climax
of the film is truly exciting and packs a punch for any action lover we witness
the final stand between the SEALS and the African Rebels.
 While
the last gun fight with the African rebels in the climax of the film is
important and very exciting, it ultimately bogs down the story and completely
veers off the topic for this story of war. What seemed like a story about men
forced to face the futility and horrors of a war-stricken ravaged Africa at the
hands of the brutal African rebels ultimately delves into action movie territory
with scenes that are too derivative. Monica Bellucci as beautiful and sexy as
she is in the film and as central a character she is to the importance of the
story, manages to become one of the most annoying and grating characters in a
war film I've ever seen. Often times she seems to work on lapses of logic and
completely annoying theories. Often times during the film, when the soldiers
decide to help the African refugees she insists "My people must rest!" despite
the fact that she knows very well that there are hordes of African rebels
quickly zeroing in on their location and may brutally and slowly kill them all.
Also, knowing that it would risk the lives of everyone, she keeps a secret from
the soldiers that might have had its good intentions but became very annoying
and made me very angry and gave me more reason to dislike her. I'm sure writers
Alex Lasker and Patrick Cirillo intended Bellucci's character to be passionately
caring but she ultimately becomes an incredible nuisance showing no true regard
for planning or logic in her rescue attempts and nearly ruined the entire length
of the story while often interfering where she wouldn't be useful. The story is
one of a moral of salvation and heroism but the feeling is lost on Bellucci's
character who turns truly irritating.
While Bellucci's character fails to add to the tension, and the end takes a routine trail into action, this is a very engrossing, exciting and tense piece of filmmaking that will entertain.
- The script was
considered as part of the "Die Hard" film series franchise.
- October 29, 2002
a stuntman was killed filming a parachuting scene near Oceano,
California. Jumping with eight other skydivers from 14,000 feet, the man
was supposed to land on the beach, but actually landed about 300 yards
offshore and drowned.
- The title of this
movie was the subtitle for a "Die Hard 4" project the studio was making.
The project needed work and Bruce Willis told the studio he would commit
to "Die Hard 4" if he could use the title for this movie.
- Emerson Knives
which were used in this film are handcrafted and extremely popular in
law enforcement and military communities.
- This is the first
film to be filmed on the Nimitz Class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier, Harry S.
Truman (CVN-75).
- During principal
photography period, all actors who played Navy S.E.A.L.S characters were
to refer to each other by their characters' names, even off camera, so
as to improve interaction among the soldiers.
- All the actors
who played Navy S.E.A.L.S had to go through a two week boot camp in
preparation.
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