'Tears' shed as timely war movie dies hard

Tears of the Sun" is one of the worst movies I've seen in sometime. The only real compliment I could bestow upon this ethnocentric, feature-length, militaristic recruitment ad is that it's timely. But that is also its greatest drawback. In attempting to embrace issues pertinent to an audience on the verge of war, while simultaneously eschewing such matters in favor of poorly executed sequences of mindless combat, "Tears" squanders what little credibility it had.\nLt. Waters (Bruce Willis), a Navy SEAL, and his war hardened, 7-man squadron, parachute into Nigeria in order to rescue Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci) and a trio of Catholic missionaries doing God's work deep within the bush.\nThe objective is to save these four, and only these four, which sits none-too-well with the fiery Kendricks, who refuses to leave her patients. Waters sneakily promises to take the ones who can walk. But upon reaching the rendezvous, he hoists Kendricks into a chopper and is splitsville.\nIn exiting, they fly over Kendricks' mission, which has since been obliterated by rebel troops -- anyone who remained was slain. Waters has a sudden case of conscience (which, annoyingly, is never fully developed or explained) and insists that the helicopters turn around. Bullets, bombs and blood ensue as Waters and Co. attempt to escort Kendricks and the villagers into the safety of Cameroon. Think of it as "Three Kings" transplanted to Africa, only minus the wit and sophistication, and plus the heavy-handed sentimentality.\nWillis is entirely too restrained as Waters. He has a couple decent one-liners and certainly looks the part of a badass. Apparently that's enough. Bellucci, who rocked as a hooker/assassin in "Brotherhood of the Wolf," is annoying as the incessantly whining Kendricks. Her only saving grace comes as a result of not knowing how to dress herself properly. Without fail, her blouse is half unbuttoned throughout. Director Antoine Fuqua dispels of the skills used in making "Training Day" and makes a flick far more akin to his earlier works, "The Replacement Killers" and "Bait." \n"Tears" concludes with an Edmund Burke quote stating, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." While essentially true, in the context of this cinematic nationalism machine, it's a tad offensive -- just like the movie.