Washington may like the timing, but the serious considerations of war and horror here are ultimately undermined by sentiment and schlock.

Will a thinking audience really buy the image of helpless, grateful people bestowing kisses and victory songs upon Willis as the representative of all things American: power, guts, compassion? full review

Deserves the bad reviews and the lackluster earnings it has accumulated thus far. full review

Raping and pillaging and blowing things up is mainly what this movie is about, although it claims to show how the most robotic, dehumanized soldiers can be transformed by human suffering. full review

Fuqua ... can stage action, but he can't save a trivializing, reactionary script featuring a Hollywood star (read America) as a global savior.

This Black Hawk Down theft is a trial by cliche. full review

In a movie with so much graphic suffering by innocent Africans, it's a bit disconcerting that so much loving attention is paid to Bruce Willis's anguished mug. full review

What's noteworthy is that Tears is simultaneously a gripping action tale and a plea for a policy of engagement, of humanitarian intervention, in parts of the world where oil is not at stake. full review

This movie should have been called Crocodile Tears of the Sun.

The film is a strictly no-bull proposition.

Painfully obvious, yet confusing. full review

If you ever wanted a reason to root for a righteous invasion, this sequence -- like My Lai but improved because it's perpetrated by the bad guys -- provides it. full review

Propaganda doesn't get any more entertaining. full review

At its best, it's a little hard to sit through. At its worst, it's like every other picture about soldiers on a tough mission. What pushes it above mediocrity is that it ends better than it begins. full review

The film may have been inspired by The Seachers, but it's worlds away from John Wayne. full review

Tears of the Sun has a title that makes no sense whatsoever. The film's message, on the other hand, makes too much sense -- it's simplistic and reactionary and designed to get hearts pumping but not minds thinking.

Willis' performance redeems much of the film.

The movie might have gotten a dramatic boost from its topical theme, indirect as it is. Unfortunately, it's not one-tenth as interesting as what you can see at home during a nightly cable surf as U.S. war policy is debated. full review