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* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Some viewers have suggested that Danny might have HIV. When a prostitute tells him she's "clean, no HIV", he responds "I've heard that one before", he and Maddy never actually hook up and [[spoiler: he won't let Solomon touch him as he's bleeding to death]].
* {{Anvilicious}}:
** The stuff about diamond mines being run by slave labor because the diamond industry really doesn't care how many puppies are raped in the name of profits? Actually mostly true.
** Fun fact: Supposedly, De Beers diamond company, suspected (though unproven) of making a deal with Executive Outcomes during the conflict, had their sales drop after the film's plot was made public.
** It also emphasizes that even people who have engaged in evil have the potential to [[HeelFaceTurn consciously choose good and redeem themselves]]. This is shown in the film through a real-life home for former child soldiers which, through kind treatment, gives them a chance at a normal life.
* AwardSnub: Although Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio and Creator/DjimonHounsou were nominated for UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, neither of them won. This began a long trend of the former being snubbed at the Oscars until ''Film/TheRevenant'' (which many viewed as a ConsolationAward anyway).
* BrokenBase: At the time, Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio's South African accent was very divisive - over whether it was good, bad or average. It's hard to gauge how much of this had to do with lingering hate from ''{{Film/Titanic 1997}}'' (some of which was still around in the mid-2000s).
* CompleteMonster: [[ItsAllAboutMe Captain Poison]], wishing to escape Sierra Leone via as much wealth as he can amass, is a warlord in the Revolutionary United Front who ravages the countryside and has the hands of young men lopped off as a twisted joke on voting to take the "future in your hands". Running brutal slave labor for diamond harvesting, Poison kills any who try to keep diamonds for themselves, later massacring numerous civilians and taking the children to be used as CannonFodder and brainwashed ChildSoldiers, with a disturbing interest in Dia, the son of his nemesis Solomon Vandy. When confronting Vandy once again, Poison threatens to force him to watch as he [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape his wife]] in front of his eyes, then slit her throat, and keep his daughters as his {{Sex Slave}}s out of spite.
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: This marked the first in a [[Film/TheDeparted string]] [[Film/RevolutionaryRoad of]] [[Film/ShutterIsland films]] that reminded audiences what a talent Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio was.
* HomegrownHero: It's about a Rhodesian and a Sierra Leonese surviving the Sierra Leone Civil War... with the obligatory bystander/love interest being an American journalist.
* MagnificentBastard: [[AmoralAfrikaner Danny Archer]] is a Rhodesian mercenary forced into the debt of the unscrupulous Colonel Coetzee and intends to retrieve a large diamond known to the fisherman Solomon Vandy. Pulling Vandy along by manipulating him with promises to help his family, Danny helps Solomon survive and also assists journalist Maddy in obtaining evidence against the diamond trade. [[HeelRealization Developing a conscience]], Danny calls in Coetzee's forces to destroy the local RUF and helps Solomon overcome Coetzee's men. Mortally wounded, Danny [[HeroicSacrifice gives his life]] to cover Solomon's escape to make it to Maddy and expose the illegal diamond trade worldwide.
* {{Narm}}:
** The scene in prison where Solomon strips naked to 'prove' he doesn't have the diamond on him. It looks like they just wanted an excuse to give Creator/DjimonHounsou another ShirtlessScene.
** After the "bling bang" line, Danny randomly pinches Maddy's arm a few times.
* NightmareFuel:
** 'You risk my life like that again...and I'll peel your face back off your head.' Note that this is said while he's skinning a dead baboon.
** The RUF's method for turning kidnapped children into child soldiers; both horrifying and TruthInTelevision.
** As [[KarmicDeath well-deserved]] as Captain Poison's death was, the look of sheer ''rage'' on Solomon's face before he bashes Poison's head in repeatedly with a shovel is terrifying.
* NotBadassEnoughForFans: Maddy is often dismissed as a useless MsFanservice or TokenRomance--and especially for being the only American protagonist. This ignores that she accomplishes plenty in the narrative, helps Danny and Solomon multiple times and [[spoiler: her article is what allows Solomon to make a difference at the end]]. Presumably because she accomplishes this by acting as TheFace rather than [[RealWomenDontWearDresses shooting guns at everyone]].
* OnceOriginalNowCommon: Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio not playing a PrettyBoy. Big deal back in 2007, a completely obvious thing just a few years later. It stands out particularly when reading contemporary reviews, along with old marketing coverage - it ''all'' extensively focuses on di Caprio "PlayingAgainstType".
* RetroactiveRecognition: Captain Poison is played by Creator/DavidHarewood, a few years before his more famous roles in ''{{Series/Homeland}}'' and ''{{Series/Supergirl 2015}}''.
* SpecialEffectsFailure: Creator/JenniferConnelly's character had a tear digitally added to her face when [[spoiler:Danny calls her cell phone as he's about to die]]. In a movie filled with plenty of real tears the fact that this one is fake is ''really obvious''.
* TearJerker: At the climax, Solomon has to talk down his son, who's leveling a pistol at him and Danny.
* TheWoobie: Dia! Kidnapped from his family and brainwashed into being a ChildSoldier. Not to mention he [[spoiler: nearly ends up shooting his own father]].
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