A different way of telling a story

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Depending on your outlook on life this movie is packed with ups and dons, positive and negative, and wise one liners. Some, may think the violence may be too much and itt is accompanied by a great deal of blood. However, I think it makes the move much more real. For the subject is real and takes place not only in Africa , but in many parts of the world. While watching the movie I was asked a couple of times " are you ok? We can watch something else if you'd like." My response "i don't want to be one of those people who's oblivious to things that are real in this world". I'm a firm believer in the cliche "out of sight, out of mind". Watching this movie made me look at how fortunate am to live in this country and how I'm able to live my life

In my mind, very few war movies have what it takes to depict the deadliness and sharp minded honed warrior psychology of an elite killing machine. This movie is more than just a war movie, it's a testament to hunters of the shadows, to demons in your sleep, it lends a vision into United States Navy SEALs that wait in the waters edge as you fetch a basket by the river or who keenly train their eyes on your movements in the dark green fizzled hue of night vision optics. It's got that....aurora about it. A mysticism surrounding the modern elite. When these modern elite are sent into the jungles of Africa their mission is simple; ascertain a western doctor in a feel good near Yolingo and bring her back to the extraction point. Things don't turn out as they seem, and so this SEAL team is forced to hike to the nearest extraction with more than what they bargained for. Hot on their tails are an entire rebel army, who vigorously peruse the SEAL team through rain, wind and weather. What follows is perhaps the coolest depiction of jungle combat, clandestine ops and hidden concealment. Tears of the Sun, a classic in its own right.

A rather less exciting drama that takes a long time to take off. The movies main plot line kicks in after 45-50 mins that is way to late for a drama such as this. Additionally I have toe say that there is never any real tension or excitement to a rather weak and obvious story with very few twists. The only thing that warrants the score of 6/10 is the acting by Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci who both deliver solid performances and the cinematography with some great aerial shots of forests and exotic nature. An experienced director such as Antoine Fuqua should've made more of this story. He knows how to draw attention to his actors and focus on the important plot points. Unfortunately that is not is not enough in this movie with this rather weak plot. In conclusion we can say that "Tears of the Sun" is a rather weak drama that mostly lives from the good acting and it's even better camera work.

"Tears of the Sun" (2003) tells the story of a squadron of Navy Seals led by Bruce Willis who are on mission in Nigeria to remove a beautiful American doctor (Monica Belucci) from a Christian village before evil Islamic militants move in and annihilate 'em all. Belucci insists that "her people" go with them. Willis initially refuses but later has a change of heart. Since there are too many to remove via helicopter they have no choice but to lead 'em out on foot to the Cameroon border. Will they make it out alive? I remember seeing a scene or two while channel surfing a few years ago and it perked my interest. What I saw had an ultra-serious vibe and seemed to have depth as well. It looked like my cup of tea because I'm a huge fan of the original "Apocalypse Now." The icing on the cake is the presence of Monica Belucci, who's definitely one of the most beautiful women to ever grace God's Earth. Seriously, her face is incredible! Well, I've seen it twice now and, despite all the positive items it has going, I can't help but find it kinda disappointing. I've already listed the positives so allow me to cite what doesn't work: After seeing the film twice now I only remember two characters -- Willis and Belucci. Every other character is totally forgettable. This isn't the case at all with, say, "Apocalypse Now" wherein the viewer knew and remembered every single member of Capt. Willard's team after seeing the film once, not to mention the major peripheral characters. Another good example would be "Last Of The Mohicans" (1992), which has a similar theme (i.e. good people being chased through the forest by evil villains).The mistake of "Tears of the Sun" is that it jumps right into the thick of the jungle story without allowing the viewer to get to know anyone. As already noted, the theme is heavy and the vibe is fittingly serious, including the score, but because we aren't emotionally tied to the characters the picture comes across too heavy-handed and melodramatic.I should also add that the 2-hour film is fairly slow moving and that the big-action sequence doesn't take place until the finale. The problem with this "exciting" climax is that the viewer, once again, doesn't care what happens at this point because we don't really know the characters and therefore have little emotional attachment. I just got done watching the ending and I was quite bored -- lazily strumming my acoustic guitar, looking around the room, etc.Although the story takes place in Nigeria the picture was obviously shot in Hawaii. The difference in geography is enough that the film loses points for realism, but who can deny the beauty of Hawaii? So maybe it gains the points back.The Director's Cut merely adds the deleted scenes from the Special Edition DVD to the film. In other words, unless you absolutely love the film it's not necessary to buy the Director's Cut; just watch the deleted scenes. Speaking of the deleted scenes, there's one quietly potent scene where a black American talks with a black Nigerian. It has great dialogue and should have never been cut.BOTTOM LINE: "Tears of the Sun" has some attributes, including the ultra-serious vibe, cinematography, score and Monica Belucci. But this is far from a good film. At the same time, it's not bad. It's just okay. Check out "Rambo" (2008) if you want to see the same theme done in an effective manner.GRADE: C