The movie’s noble aspirations are clear–Bosnia and Rwanda were obviously on the filmmakers’ minds–yet it’s hopelessly steeped in stale Hollywood action conventions. Director Antoine Fuqua, who did well with “Training Day,” flip-flops here between slaughter and solemnity, and his unvarying adagio pace only gives the cliches more time to expose themselves. And just now “Tears of the Sun” plays shamelessly into the hands of the Iraq war hawks, down to the on-screen Edmund Burke quote that ends the film: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Was this what the filmmakers had in mind when they started?
