Tears of the Sun (2003)

I’ve heard about this movie for many years since it came during my freshman year in high school. I finally saw Director Antoine Fuqua’s 2003 action war thriller TEARS OF THE SUN and thought it was very entertaining. TEARS OF THE SUN is about a group of United States Navy S.E.A.L.S., led by loyal veteran Lt. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis), who get sent to into the African jungles of Nigeria to rescue U.S. citizen Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks (Monica Bellucci, THE MATRIX RELOADED and THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS), but she refuses to leave the refugees in her care. But when Nigeria’s democratic government collapses and gets taken over by a ruthless military dictator, Waters must choose between following orders from his captain (Tom Skerritt) or agreeing to Kendricks about getting the refugees to safety as they are being pursued by a rebel militia group who only have one goal in mind: assassinate Waters, his men, Lena, and the refugees. I thought Bruce Willis was fantastic in his performance as Waters, along with Monica Bellucci’s performance as Lena. The actors who played Willis’ unit; such as Cole Hauser (Good Will Hunting), Eamonn Walker (HBO’s Oz), Johnny Messner (Anaconda: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid), Paul Francis (Pearl Harbor), and Nick Chinlund (Con Air) were all terrific in their roles. I think the best scene out of the whole movie would have to be when Waters and his fellow S.E.A.L.S., along with Kendricks and her refugees, race to the Nigerian boarder in Cameroon while the rebels are on their trail. This movie was filmed entirely on location in the jungles of Hawaii to make it look like Africa and it was also the first time for the Nimitz –class nuclear aircraft carrier, The USS Harry S. Truman, to be filmed on their ship. I’m happy that Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, The Dark Knight) was chosen to compose the music for the film and it was fantastic. Antoine Fuqua, the director of TRAINING DAY, directed an incredible military action thriller and I consider TEARS OF THE SUN one of my favorite Bruce Willis movies.