Tears of the Sun [Blu-ray] : New DVD Releases

Tears of the Sun [Blu-ray]
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Average customer review:

Product Description

Columbia Pictures Tears Of The Sun (Blu-Ray)
Loyal veteran Navy S.E.A.L. Lt. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) is sent into the heart of war-torn Africa on a hazardous mission to rescue Dr. Lena Hendricks (Monica Bellucci), a U.S. citizen who runs a missionary. When the beautiful doctor refuses to abandon the refugees in her care, Lt. Waters finds himself having to choose between following orders and the dictates of his own conscience. Together, they begin a dangerous trek through the deadly jungle, all the while being pursued by a rebel militia group, with only one goal in mind: to assassinate Lt. Waters' unit and the refugees in his care.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #8509 in DVD
Brand: Columbia Pictures
Released on: 2006-09-19
Rating: R (Restricted)
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Formats: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
Original language: English, French
Subtitled in: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
Dubbed in: French
Number of discs: 1
Dimensions: 3.00 pounds
Running time: 121 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
While it offers nothing new to the military action genre, Tears of the Sun distinguishes itself with fine acting, expert craftsmanship, and seriousness of purpose. Its familiar "extraction mission" plot is essentially similar to that of Black Hawk Down, involving a crack team of U.S. Special Ops commandos struggling to rescue innocent missionaries amidst the bloody horror of Nigerian ethnic cleansing. With Bruce Willis as their grizzled, no-nonsense commander, the skillful team enters a hot zone that gets even hotter when their "package"--an American national (Monica Bellucci) who runs the isolated mission--demands that 70 Nigerian villagers be included in the rescue. Willis's uneasy conscience leads him to defy orders and expand his mission, and in an ambitious follow up to Training Day, director Antoine Fuqua escalates tension and strike-force with considerable emotional impact. Originally considered as a potential entry in Willis's Die Hard series, and released on the eve of America's war with Iraq, Tears of the Sun admirably avoids jingoism with its rousing story of personal good vs. political evil. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A rousing celebration of American military expertise, but one pricked by conscience. The stoical Lieutenant A. K. Waters (Bruce Willis) leads a crack unit of Navy SEALs into a civil conflict in Nigeria between Muslims and Christians. Their mission is to rescue an Italian-born American citizen (Monica Bellucci), a doctor operating a Catholic missionary hospital. Appalled by the atrocities committed against defenseless people, the unit winds up staying on the ground to protect the patients. Bellucci, a flaming dark beauty with snapping eyes and a sumptuous décolletage, runs through the bush with her shirt partly open. Because of such absurdities, and the general atmosphere of American noblesse oblige, skeptics have dismissed the movie as an embarrassing crock-another contrived occasion for U.S. soldiers to demonstrate their nobility while fighting and killing a great many nasty-looking Africans. Baldly stated, this is true, but the movie, directed by Antoine Fuqua, has been made with ravishing skill. The cinematographer, Mauro Fiore, who also worked with the director on "Training Day," does wonders matching the natural light from shot to shot. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Neither really good or really bad, but worthwhile for a few reasons
"Tears of the Sun" (2003) tells the story of a squadron of Navy Seals lead 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 helicoptor, they have no choice but to lead 'em out on foot to the Carmeroon 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 melodramtic.

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: I'm not sorry I bought "Tears of the Sun" because it has so many 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.