REVIEWS-Tears of the Sun

TEARS OF THE SUN (****)

Movie Review by:
Larry "Bocepheus" Evans

Directed by:
Antoine Fuqua

Written by:
Patrick Cirillo, Alex Lasker

Starring:
Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci, Cole Hauser

Running time:
118 minutes

Released:
3/07/03

Rated R for strong war violence, some brutality and language.

“I liked Tears a lot, It didn’t come off as just another Willis action vehicle."

Bruce Willis channels Lee Marvin quite successfully in Tears of the Sun, the movie that brought Die Hard 4 back into play. For those of you that are concerned with film history and legal strategies Tears of the Sun was to have been Die Hard before and was also a possible film for John Woo before he decided to do Broken Arrow. Willis, director Antoine Fuqua and the rest of the folks went off to film this puppy and never could decide on a title so they called Twentieth Century Fox and asked if they could use Tears. The folks there said, hell yes, if Willis will do another Die Hard. Willis smirked for a while then said what the hell so here we are.

Willis is the leader of an elite unit who upon returning from one mission are sent back out to rescue the voluptuous Monica Belluci from the African jungle where she serves as a doctor. The bunch saddles up and enters the area after getting a quick meal and some seconds worth of sleep. The team has a collection of experts most prominently Cole Hauser and regular bad guy Nick Chinlund.

The bunch arrive at the hospital Belluci and friends have set up in the desert and of course, she doesn’t want to go unless the refugees she is helping can go to. Bruce stares at her for a while then agrees knowing this isn’t going to happen. The chesty and makeup wearing doctor believes the con and gets her folks together for a long walk into sweat-ville.

The bulk of the film after that has them dodging the army that follows them for some strange yet ultimately uncliched reason we get before the film is over. Willis and bunch get to the extraction point and load her up but for some reason he decides to come back and walk the refugees to the border. As the team moves ahead Belucci sweats and yet her makeup never smudges and she never once considers buttoning her shirt all the way up so that we can’t stare at her cans throughout the whole movie. It’s an incredibly considerate thing for her to do.

Sun has some very impressive sequences throughout its run. As the group moves forward they come across a village that has been trashed and silently take out the men who are destroying it. We find out why the army is following them in a sequence that could have turned into a cliché but instead is riveting because we get the clearest view possible of what Willis is capable of. The final sequence with the men running out of ammo and the air support coming is also damn impressive since Fuqua decides to show them coming just when we think Willis’ team is screwed.

The script also gives us a clear picture of each of Willis’ men. Each has a personality and doesn’t blend into the background. The Tom Skerritt character serves solely as ground support with most of his scenes having a phone attached to his head but he does come off as believable. Willis has little to say here; his head is shaved and he’s wearing camouflage makeup throughout. He has no reason to turn back and ignore orders; his reasons come to him slowly since he isn’t sure himself until halfway through this.

I liked Tears a lot, it didn’t come off as just another Willis action vehicle. It also looks gorgeous with vegetation that looked almost real on the screen. If you miss this in the theaters, don’t worry because the DVD release has been announced for 6/20.

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