Tears Of The Sun - Movie

Simply put, this is a modern war movie. There are too many dark undertones and unpleasant combat scenes to class it as anything else. As such, you're putting it up against parts of Saving Private Ryan and pretty much most of Black Hawk Down ("look, here's a war - plot? Hell no! Look, people running around shouting about a Blackhawk Down!") amongst others. How do the war parts compare? It's ok. They're reasonably real feeling, though the small number of US soldiers means no satisfyingly brutal and horrifying fields of slaughter here, at least not until the end. There's a plot (which you can see coming a mile off, trailers or no trailers) and it's pretty simplistic and unimaginative. However, at least there IS a plot. There are also characters, but they don't really develop to any significant amount and what are meant to be surprising changes of heart etc. are pretty darn obvious. In general the entire film is pretty obvious, with no surprises and no standout acting, action or ideas. The recent (on UK TV) ER finale was a much more satisfying portrayal of a similar situation, in a way. Average.

6.5/10

Written to Nirvana - Plateau (live)