TEARS OF THE SUN (2003). This slick and manipulative effort from Antoine Fuqua stars Bruce Willis as Navy Seal Lieutenant A.K. Waters, whose team has strict orders to extract Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci) before bloodthirsty rebels overrun her medical mission in Nigeria. Lena refuses to go unless the natives seeking refuge at the mission are included. A.K. humors her and lets the refugees tag along; he's planning to ditch them when the helicopters arrive for evacuation. But then he has second thoughts. Why? Because he sees dead people -- hundreds butchered in a Rwanda-style massacre? Because he gets the hots for the busty Lena, who's shown in cleavage-baring décolletage? No, the reason A.K. changes his mind is so audiences can enjoy the spectacle of the good guys kicking the evildoers' asses. Less thoughtful than Three Kings, less apathetic than Black Hawk Down, Tears is all too timely: foreign policy as revenge movie. (118m)

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