I originally watched "Tears of the Sun" with some friends in 2003, when it was officially released in theaters. I was still pretty young, at the time (16 years old, still in high school), so my knowledge of war and conflict was pretty bleak. Also, this was literally right around, or before, March 20th, which is when the US waged the War In Iraq. I'm not sure if this was just pure coincidence by the Director, Antoine Fuqua, but it happened to line up almost to the day of one of the biggest wars in American history.Since I was pretty uneducated on what war was back then, the movie really opened my eyes to the brutality of it all, and that only further peaked my interest. One thing I loved was the realness of how the characters interacted with one another, calling each other by nicknames, remaining very stoic in their mannerisms and how they speak, and of course, how they acted like real Navy SEALs, who are known to be some of the toughest members of any branch of the military, because of the particular type of training they go through. I also thought the battle scenes, where both sides are fighting one another, or a sniper is shooting the enemy from a long distance, seemed realistic, and definitely keep me on the edge of my seat. It's not easy to choreograph this kind of stuff, so it looked really convincing to me.After initially watching the movie in 2003, I had gone several years not seeing it, again, until it was shown on a premium movie channel, which lead to me watching the movie multiple times after that on cable television. I loved the movie so much after seeing it so many times that I decided to buy the DVD, then I kept watching it on DVD, or seeing it shown on cable television. To this day, I still watch "Tears of the Sun" when it airs, and enjoy it, just as much as I always did.As for the movie, itself, it's a very harrowing story of eight Navy SEALs, who are forced to rescue an American doctor (by marriage), two nuns and a priest out of a village in Nigeria, so as to bring them to safety in Cameroon. Unfortunately, this team of SEALS had just completed a difficult mission, but this next one was expected to be simple and quick. The team is headed by Lieutenant A.K. Waters, nicknamed "LT" (Bruce Willis), with seven other SEALs: James Atkins, nicknamed "Red" (Cole Hauser); Ellis Pettigrew, nicknamed "Zee (Eamonn Walker); Kelly Lake (Johnny Messner), referred to by his last name, Lake; Michael Slowenski, nicknamed "Slo" (Nick Chinlund); Demetrius Owens, nicknamed "Silk" (Charles Ingram); Danny Kelley, nicknamed "Doc" (Paul Francis); Jason Mabry, nicknamed "Flea" (Chad Smith).Without giving away too much about the film, there are two aspects of this movie, which involve the plot, that have always stood out to me the most: one is positive and the other is negative.The positive I noticed is how the movie reminds people that members of the military, whose job it is to kill their enemies with bullets and bombs, can also be humane enough to save people's lives, as well. In other words, not all men/women with guns are bad, just because they are involved in acts of violence. They are meant to be in those situations, because they are on a mission to save people from danger, just like a police officer and a firefighter would do. It also shows that people, who live in poorer countries, like Nigeria, Cameroon, etc., are still human beings, and should be treated as such, instead of "packages," as one of the characters refuses to look at them in that way. Many emotional moments in this film depict what African people go through, when it comes to fascist and tyrannical regimes that oppress their people.Now, when it comes to the negative, I thought it was a little bit of a bad touch to show how there's a war between two huge religious sects, depicting one as being worse than the other. In this case, Fuqua chose to show how the Christian Egbo people (referred to in the movie as the "Egbo Nation") are being victimized and slaughtered in a military coup, backed by a Muslim Fula military General, who has hundreds of thousands of troops at his service. The issue I have with this is that the movie is unfairly portraying Muslims as more violent and extreme, which is a religious stereotype that certain populations throughout the world are convinced is true. In reality, more than a majority of Muslims are peaceful, and aren't in favor of killing people from other religions, as much as the Qu'ran states. The extremists in any religion are going to be violent, regardless of the fact that they're part of any of the Abrahamic religions: Muslim, Jewish or Christian.Even with that little negative aspect of the film, "Tears of the Sun" will always be a favorite of mine, and I'd pretty much watch it whenever I have the chance. I recommend anyone who hasn't to check it out, as well.

I've always had a penchant for films set in the jungle, and TEARS OF THE SUN makes excellent use of some sweaty jungle locales in its story of US soldiers battling Nigerian rebels. It's a story of human drama masquerading as a war movie, and action lovers will be disappointed as all of the gun battles are saved for the (admittedly spectacular) last half hour. Before then we get a film based on real-life events that runs the gamut of emotions, from courage to anger, fear to bravery and everything in between.It's nothing new, but benefits from some superb acting from the assembled cast members: Bruce Willis, as silent and stern as ever, acts with just his eyes for the most part and gets the viewer totally on-side; Monica Bellucci is utterly beautiful and tough as the doctor working against the odds, and the rest of the American soldiers are also brilliant – including Cole Hauser as a tough cookie and Tom Skerritt as a grizzled veteran. Well-shot, well directed, and with plenty of story and emotion to keep it going, at first glance this might be typical gung-ho adventure stuff but it's much more. It's got heart and conscience and it never disappoints despite the lengthy running time. A solid thriller.

More Hollywood macho American nonsense. There's nothing wrong with that - if it's entertaining. But if it irritates then it's just painful. A lot of it was irritating because it was such a dumbed down, make it simple because the audience are stupid and won't ask any questions. Why didn't they just pick her up and leave. ?So many more questions why? are they retarded ? are they stupid? WTF !It's the classic nonsense that America doesn't interfere in foreign wars, and certainly never, ever kills anyone. Soldiers only do whats right. etcBruce Willis is always good to watch as the struggling good guy overcoming his orders and he carries what otherwise would be a C rate nonsensical action movie. As is, its a B rate watch after 5 beers if your feeling gung ho and have fond memories of Die Hard. (which was so much more plausible than this)6/10 watch once, too irritating to watch twice.

Antoine Fuqua's Tears Of The Sun is a brutal, tough war machine of a flick in the tradition of the old 70's war films, kind of like a brooding Dirty Dozen. Bruce Willis stoically heads up a team of special ops soldiers who are sent into a war torn region of Africa to rescue a doctor (Monica Belucci) from a missionary camp. Genocidal maniacs are encroaching into the area and it's no longer safe for locals or relief workers. His orders are simple: locate and extract the doctor, and no one else. However, when he comes face to face with the refugees, and their situation, he simply can't find it in himself to turn his back on them when he can do something to help. He then disobeys his orders, collects both his team, Bellucci and the Africans and makes a run through the jungle for diplomatic protected soil. His team are a grizzled band of warriors, each with their own unique qualities and opinion on his decision. Kelly (a badass, mohawk adorned Johnny Messner) believes it's too much of a risk, and not their concern). Michael 'Slo' Slowenski (Nick Chinlund, excellent and understated) takes a compasionate standpoint. Second in command Red Atkins (Cole Hauser) trusts Willis is making the right call. Soon they are pursued by the extremists, led by a hulking Peter Mensah, before King Leonidas kicked him into the Sarlak pit. The combat scenes are hard hitting, seemingly very well rehearsed and researched. The only problem for me was the overbearing and extended sequences of genocide, which are harrowing and quite tough to watch. When it's combat based it's a damn fine piece, with a rugged, thoughtful band of heroes who are an absolute joy to see in action. Rounding out the team are Eamonn Walker, Charles Ingram, Paul Francis, Chad Smith and a briefly seen Tom Skerritt as Willis's commanding officer. Tough, muscular and no nonsense, with burgeoning compassion that gives that soldiers purpouse beyond the cold lethality of the mission. Fuqua has a terrific collection of lean and mean action flicks under his belt, and this is one of the best.