Tears of the Sun

Tears of the Sun was a rather abysmal disappointment to all the hype which surrounded it. Action-wise, it of course delivered (although nowhere near the level of Black Hawk Down). The story line pit Navy S.E.A.L. Bruce Willis against your typical bleeding heart doctor, who he’s supposed to be extracting, and a bunch of Islamic rebels running amuck in Nigeria. Then with a plot hole large enough to run the Autobahn through, he decides to fill a chopper full of refugees at the expense of the well being of he, his team, and the doctor.

Plot hole #2, this one being so great and with such gravitational pull, that no logic or common sense can escape (sort of a black hole of plot holes); the son of the executed former Nigerian president shows up in the group of refugees Willis is attempting to escort to the border. What’s that you say? Yes. This sort of mission tampering is a court marshaling offense in real life.

Come again? Quite right! This sort of job with these kind of firefights is much more suited to Army Rangers (who still use 90mm Recoilless guns in stead of an M60E3 machinegun as one their heavy weapons). And finally what really burned me was the fact that, after killing off a bunch of rebels who were butchering the inhabitants of a remote town, instead of grabbing the UNIMOG (it’s a really big truck, this one had a 12.7mm heavy Soviet machinegun on it) and just driving the 7miles to the border, they leave it and choose to hump it on foot.

Anyhow, since I’m still kind of peeved over all the gross inaccuracy and ridiculous plot holes, this movie ain’t getting flying colors. However, it does not warrant a classification as badness fodder. So I’m giving it the bare minimum of a passing grade, which as far as I’m concerned is <b>4 1/2; air to ground missiles being flung at the ever advancing enemy.</b> It a nice little war stint to watch on a rainy day or a slow Saturday afternoon, but don’t expect to get anything out of it, besides that.