Awaovieyi Agie, Bruce Willis, Chad Smith

Navy SEAL Lieutenant A.K. Waters and his elite squadron of tactical specialists are forced to choose between their duty and their humanity, between following orders by ignoring the conflict that surro...( read more  read more... )unds them, or finding the courage to follow their conscience and protect a group of innocent refugees. When the democratic government of Nigeria collapses and the country is taken over by a ruthless military dictator, Waters, a fiercely loyal and hardened veteran is dispatched on a routine mission to retrieve a Doctors Without Borders physician, Dr. Lena Kendricks. Dr. Kendricks, an American citizen by marriage, is tending to the victims of the ongoing civil war at a Catholic mission in a remote village. When Waters arrives, however, Dr. Kendricks refuses to leave unless he promises to help deliver the villagers to political asylum at the nearby border. If they are left behind, they will be at the mercy of the enormous rebel army. Waters is under strict orders from his commanding officer Captain Bill Rhodes to remain disengaged from the conflict. But as he and his men witness the brutality of the rebels first-hand, they are won over to Dr. Kendricks' cause and place their lives at risk by agreeing to escort the villagers on a perilous trek through the dense jungle. As they move through the countryside on foot, Waters' team, experts at evasion and concealment, are inexplicably and ferociously pursued by an army of rebels. They are confounded until they discover that, among the refugees, is the sole survivor of the country's previous ruling family, whom the rebels have been ordered to eliminate at all costs. Waters and his small band of soldiers must weigh the life of one man against their own and the refugees they feel obliged to protect.

Flixster Users

74% liked it

99,243 ratings

Critics

34% liked it

148 critics

R, 1 hr. 58 min.

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua

Release Date: March 7, 2003

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DVD Release Date: June 10, 2003

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Stats: 4,761 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (4,761)


  • September 17, 2009
    Tears of the Sun is a touching modern war film. I didn?t have much expectation before I watched it but I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.
  • May 13, 2009
    "What've you got?
    - Ringside seats to an ethnic cleansing."

    'Tears of the Sun' is a typical search and rescue film that suddenly gets too much of heart. By this the film delivers some dramatic images that may seem a bit tough to look at.

    "It's been so long since I've done a goo...( read more)d thing... a right thing."

    The actors all do a decent job, typical roles for a film of this genre with some melodramatic performances. None of 'em stand out but what I noticed was that Bruce Willis, whom I've respected since I saw him in 'Moonlighting', felt a bit out of focus. Not the typical Willis I'm used to. I presume that one reason could be the fact that he had recently divorced Demi Moore and was living a 'live free or die hard' phase of his life, when he was, and I quote Mac from one of my favourite TV shows 'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia', banging these hot young girls, changing them constantly like socks.

    "All right, lieutenant Waters. I'm all yours."

    After Monica Bellucci's character, Dr Hendricks, said these words that I've quoted above, I was immediately distracted from the movie, just for a couple of seconds. I've had this secret crush on Monica for years. I guess it's not secret anymore but damn! And when she starts to shout in italian when she's upset... I'm sold.

    The action is solid but the tactics or solutions that they do on their mission does not feel logical and result in a silly outcome. For an example the big final battle in the jungle where SEAL members start to drop. Why did rugged soldiers all of a sudden get noble thoughts and choose to take risks that would put in danger themselves and the civilians that they try to rescue?

    What was the purpose for this movie? To show us brutal images of mutilated bodies and by this understand the brutality of war or genocide? 'Tears of the Sun' does not stand out from the genre that has not renewed for years. It doesn't have anything special in it for it to deserve several viewings.
  • December 7, 2008
    Always have trouble with action films that try to shoehorn in politics. Usually doesn't work. This is no exception.
  • July 8, 2008
    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke

    This film is not only a war film. It is something else. It tries to show audiences the horrors of civil unrest and ethnic cleansing but sadly they tried too hard to get it acros...( read more)s that the quality of the film suffered. Bruce Willis in his battle hardened bad-ass Marine mode is effective. I mean, he's so used to playing roles like that anyway so I'm sure he didn't have a problem adjusting and such.

    Feisty Italian stunner Monica Bellucci was quite annoying at time with that disgruntled accent of hers top to that the stupid things her character does in the film. She was really hot though I'll give her that.

    The one scene that annoyed the most is the part where this guy with the under developed mohawk got hit by a sniper and then the rest of his team starts shooting at the trees on the other side. They were in a vertical tactical position and they're advancing towards the unseen enemy and they're shooting at nothing. To be honest, they looked like a bunch of retards. And they call themselves Special Ops. What the hell.

    Tears of the Sun is an average war film with a message. They tried to get the message across so hard that the quality of the film suffered.

    3/5
  • May 18, 2008
    I found it funny at the start where Willis gets out of the copter, looking all badass and macho honcho.

    The twist was pretty, ok I guess. I liked the infiltration scenes and the brutal scenes, but somewhere near the end I started laughing, cuz of the erm.. fireworks and how ...( read more)the lights went off from the guns.

    Its good, but... oh well.. Ill let you decide what to think of it.
  • November 23, 2009
    en film man inte bara ser en gång.. Bruce Willis är såå bra :p
  • November 21, 2009
    Little different than typical die hard type recent movies.
  • November 18, 2009
    about one SEAL tean that help a nigerean villagers from killed by their army...
  • November 14, 2009
    This a great movie for the humanity...Enjoy It !
  • November 11, 2009
    the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

Critic Reviews


March 12, 2003
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Fuqua ... can stage action, but he can't save a trivializing, reactionary script featuring a Hollywood star (read America) as a global savior. full review

March 7, 2003
Claudia Puig, USA Today

The movie might have gotten a dramatic boost from its topical theme, indirect as it is. Unfortunately, it's not one-tenth as interesting as what you can see at home during a nightly cable surf as U.S.... full review

March 7, 2003
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

The audience's tears are more likely to result from boredom, irritation at Hans Zimmer's wretched fake-world-music score and inadvertent amusement at the thunderously earnest dialogue and Ms. Bellucci... full review

March 7, 2003
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Until it descends into mindless routine action in the climactic scenes, Tears of the Sun is essentially an impressionistic nightmare ... full review

March 7, 2003
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Can Bruce Willis save Africa from the Africans? Not in Antoine Fuqua's overwrought, blood-drenched fable of bogus Hollywood heroism, he can't. full review

View more Tears of the Sun reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • Bugger
    June 9, 2007
    Hmm, Nigeria>civil war>ethnic clensing>Cameroon border, hey people wake up! It looks like no one had done any home work here! The film is referring to the Biafra war in a confused clumsy way. It may be that since there is a strong US interest in the oil in that region the producers decideded to avoid more direct connection to it. It sad that no one has realized this and shows that reviewers are not aware of the history in the region. OK it happened most likekely before they were born (1967-1970), but it is no excuse, do a proper research before you write. It is so easy to Goggle this days. I happened to be in the northern part Nigeria for the first half of this war and I was a teen, but remember well the political propaganda went on there as well as some of the ethnic clensing. I almost forgot all of this and have to thank the producers of this film to remind me and hopefully many others.
  • clickzteen
    March 12, 2007
    like action films this 1 is gd
  • sniperfire1
    January 29, 2007
    this is one of the best movies i have ever seen.A must see movie for military thriller fans

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Tears of the Sun Trivia


  • What is the name of the movie where Bruce Willis tries to save many people in Africa from being killed. He leads them through a jungle to another country?  Answer »
  • Which movie stars Bruce Willis as Lnt. A.K. Waters as a Special-Ops commande who leads his team into the jungle of Nigeria to rescue a doctor played by Monica Belluci who will only go with them if they agree to rescue 70 refugees aswell????  Answer »
  • The movie which stars Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci?  Answer »
  • who stars in: 2 fast 2 furious, tears of the sun, pitch black, harts war and good will hunting?  Answer »

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