Hey folks, Harry here... Mr Beaks here has seen Antoine Fuqua's follow up film to TRAINING DAY in a very rough form. It needs some work and according to the questionaire they had at the end of the film, it needs a title. I agree with Beaks' belief that those titles suck the rust off a tailpipe, but if I may... I'd name the film NO LIVING THING after the horrible offensive that was waged in Nigeria in the Sierra Leone area in 1998. It sounds like much of the violence and horror in this film is based upon those horrific events that resulted in the hacking deaths of hundreds of women, men, children and even farm animals and anything else that moved. Of course, that's just my dumb uneducated opinion... Here's Mr Beaks...
TEARS OF THE SUN – Test Screening (d. Antoine Fuqua, w. A Lot of People)
One of last year’s most pleasant surprises was Antoine Fuqua’s TRAINING DAY, which, third-act deficiencies notwithstanding, put the film industry on notice that here is a director capable not only of selling product (like his other commercial/music video helming brethren), but also of telling a good story and coaxing phenomenal performances out of heretofore bland actors (that would be Mr. Oscar’s co-star). So, what exactly do you do for an encore?
If you’re Antoine Fuqua, you get Revolution Studios to bankroll a deathly serious $70 million war film that plays a little like THREE KINGS without the laughs. Currently entitled TEARS OF THE SUN (they’ve apparently jettisoned MAN OF WAR out of respect for Dolph Lundgren’s mid-90’s masterpiece, MEN OF WAR), it’s shaping up to be a fine follow-up to Fuqua’s previous triumph, though there’s still plenty of flab that needs trimming.
The film begins with a mock newscast. Accompanied by brutal images of actual atrocities, a reporter informs us that there has been a military coup in Nigeria, which has led to the execution of the country’s President and his entire family. Martial law is now in effect, enabling those in power to settle old tribal scores. As soldiers cut a bloody swath through the Amazon rain forest, no one is safe, forcing the U.S. to hastily extract their citizens from throughout the region.
The newscast ends and we find ourselves aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. Helicopters thunderously swoop in and drop off a unit of SEALS led by Lt. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis). Since it’s a Hollywood movie and we’re on an aircraft carrier, they’re met by Tom Skerritt, who quickly brings them up to speed on their mission: under the cover of darkness, they are to rescue three Catholic missionaries and Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), an idealistic physician selflessly tending to the wounds of the helpless caught up in this conflict. Though Waters and his men are worn out from round-the-clock duty ever since this insurrection erupted, they dutifully follow orders and head back into the jungle without a single complaint.
Of course, complications mount once the SEALS are on the ground; Kendricks, at first, refuses to leave her charges unless Waters promises them safe passage as well. Waters presses, but Kendricks digs in, showing no signs of buckling. Ever a man of procedure, Waters radios in her request to command, where it is promptly denied. Finding himself mired in a dangerous predicament, Waters lies to Kendricks. He tells her that her request has been approved; thus, Waters has opted to take on the burden of fifty-odd refugees for the lengthy hike back to the LZ in exchange for completing the mission.
On their trudge through the unforgiving terrain of the rain forest, the group barely avoids a confrontation with a small cadre of renegade soldiers heading in the opposite direction. Once clear of danger, Waters orders everyone to press forward, but Kendricks protests, as it’s obvious these men are headed in the direction of her settlement, where they’ve left the three missionaries to care for those too sick to make the journey. Kendricks pleads with Waters, appealing to his basic humanity, but he has already jeopardized his mission with his duplicitous concession and refuses to double back to engage the marauders.
Upon reaching the LZ, Kendricks realizes she’s been had, and rages at Waters, who is unmoved even as he boards the helicopter and hovers away from the men, women and children he has endangered in order to complete his mission. As always, his remote expression betrays not a hint of emotion, much less a tinge of compunction. Then, they pass over a still-smoldering mass of senseless devastation. It’s Kendricks’s camp, and it’s been utterly ravaged; bodies lie strewn about like discarded playthings, while badly wounded farm animals constitute the only remaining signs of life. Waters first reaction is unexpected, but undeniably human: he recoils. Though he has done his duty as a soldier, he has failed as a human being. He could’ve prevented this massacre. Thus, he reacts as a man, ordering the helicopters back to the LZ where his men will board the children and the elderly, and provide the rest of the refugees with an armed escort to Cameroon, orders be damned.
If this isn’t the most original concept for a war film, it’s at least handled intelligently by Fuqua and his writing team of thousands (if I keep referring to them as an anonymous horde, it’s because I couldn’t begin to tell you who was responsible for what in this script, since my only source of information is the IMDB). As he did with TRAINING DAY, Fuqua has ferociously latched onto the most provocative elements of the script, and turned something potentially routine into an intermittently stunning war film. This is never more evident than in the film’s most memorable sequence: Waters and company stumble onto another village being massacred, and, this time, decide to act. Methodically, they pick off crazed, bloodthirsty soldiers committing unspeakable atrocities, but as they advance on the village, the SEALS find they aren’t really saving any lives, but simply meting out justice. And though they swiftly wipe out the remaining hostiles, the hell surrounding them suggests that their intercession was meaningless – a wrong righted in a vacuum of inhumanity.
As it stands in this early cut of the film, Fuqua proves unable to integrate a curiously wrongheaded romance into the terse mix of economic character development and graphically depicted warfare, which, really, isn’t his fault at all. This is what the testing process is for: throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. It’s a nice try, but THE AFRICAN QUEEN this ain’t. In a film this weighty, it’s a tonal mismatch; the primary concern for the audience is that the refugees and the soldiers make it to Cameroon. As constructed, the film simply can’t bear the extra weight without it feeling grafted on from another movie.
Another spot that could desperately use some tidying up is the final battle outside of Cameroon, where there are serious momentum and geography flaws. Though the action, when it occurs, is shot confidently enough, there are odd lags in the fighting; for example, the moment when the opposing general sends in a second wave of soldiers. As we understand their placement vis-Ã -vis the SEALS, we expect that they will be engaged in a matter of seconds. Instead, a good thirty seconds (or so it seemed) lapses before the SEALS fall under attack again. This might sound nit-picky, but it’s really the difference between a bravura battle sequence and a ho-hum finale, which is, unfortunately, what it is right now.
The performances are uniformly solid; Willis could sleepwalk through an underwritten role like this, but he’s taken the character and imbued him with a slow-developing humanity. It’s a very controlled performance, and a reminder of why so many “actors’ directors” clamor to work with him. Meanwhile, Bellucci plays the fiery….. *American* doctor to feisty perfection. Honestly, someone might be able to poke holes in her work here, but I was too busy drooling to find fault. As for the SEALS, they manage to be slightly more distinguishable than the soldiers in BLACK HAWK DOWN, though only Cole Hauser really lingers in memory.
Due for release in March of 2003, perhaps TEARS OF THE SUN’s most pressing dilemma is what its title should be. On the questionnaire handed out at the screening, there were four possible titles, among which were such banal monikers as THE RESCUE or HOSTILE RESCUE. If this is the best they can do, perhaps we should do the filmmakers the service of turning this talk back into one big brainstorming session. Reading this review, you have more than enough information to go on; what do you think they should call it? My vote is for BELLUCCI-RAMA, or THE NIGERIAN NIGHTMARE, but, clearly, I’m not very good at this kind of thing. So, fire away, and maybe the studio will pay attention.
Until then, no matter what it’s called, Fuqua and company can take comfort in knowing they’ve got a “good”, bordering on “very good” film, which could be the crucial difference between a meager $60 million take and a healthy $100 million gross for this $70 million picture. Here’s to their pulling it together.
Faithfully submitted,
Mr. Beaks
