History Film / TearsOfTheSun

* ImprobableAge: Inverted. Someone as old as Waters should not be a Lieutenant, he should be in a command post or out of the service. Realistically, he's probably a Lieutenant ''Commander'', in which case calling him a Lieutenant is an ''insult''.
** Another possibility is that Waters is a prior enlisted sailor who earned an officer's commission later in his career. It's possible Waters entered service as an enlisted man and spent many years enlisted before he met the criteria to become an officer (such as getting a college education and/or attaining enough commendations to warrant promotion to officer status). Or is could just be that [[YoungerThanTheyLook the character was written to be younger than the actor playing him]].

* KillItWithFire: F/A-18s fire some sort of ''very'' Hollywood air-to-air-missile/cluster missile/napalm thing on the rebels that were pursuing the team.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Did Sadick [[UncertainDoom die in the air strike]] or [[KarmaHoudini did he flee]] [[VillainExitStageLeft during the final battle]]?

* CoolGuns: Let's see: [=M4A1, M249 SAW, M60E4, HK MK23=] and a Sig Sauer P226.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Did Sadick [[UncertainDoom die in the air strike]] or [[KarmaHoudini did he flee] [[VillainExitStageLeft during the final battle]]?

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Did Sadick [[UncertainDoom die in the air strike]] or [[KarmaHoudini did he flee][ [[VillainExitStageLeft during the final battle]]?

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Did Sadick die in the air strike or did he flee during the final battle?

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: Did Sadick die in the air strike?]]

* FriendlySniper: Both "Flea" and "Silk" can be considered this. Despite using an M4 and M14 as their main weapons. Flea takes the cake on this one, as he is the first member of the team to share his MREs with the villagers.

** Another possibility is that Waters is a prior enlisted sailor who earned an officer’s commission later in his career. It’s possible Waters entered service as an enlisted man and spent many years enlisted before he met the criteria to become an officer (such as getting a college education and/or attaining enough commendations to warrant promotion to officer status).

* AmericaSavesTheDay: A beef many critics had with the film. Which is ironic since the last thing the US wanted to do, in the film, was to be officially and directly involved. Considering how omnipresent this trope is, it is baffling critics would single out such a subtle representation.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: Very cleverly and shockingly done when the team has to clear a village in which the enemy troops are massacring and raping the inhabitants. This is probably the goriest and yet best sequence in the film.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Kendricks, Azuka and many other refugees make it to Cameroon, along with Waters, Zee, Red and Doc, but many more died on the way, (including 4 of the SEALs, Slo, Lake, Flea, and Silk.) and Nigeria is still under the control of genocidal thugs.]]

* NotSoDifferent: Dialogue in the opening to the Director's Cut suggests that while the rebels are clearly monsters, President Azuka might not be that much better.

* InfantImmortality: Averted. Twice.

* ChoosingDeath: The missionaries working with Dr. Hendricks refuse to abandon the sick and wounded in their field hospital, staying with them despite knowing full well that they will all be butchered once the rebels close in on the camp.

''Tears of the Sun'' is a 2003 American war film directed by Creator/AtoineFuqua depicting a United States Navy SEAL team rescue mission amidst a civil war in the West African country of Nigeria. Lt. A.K. Waters (Creator/BruceWillis) commands the team sent to rescue U.S. citizen Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks (Creator/MonicaBellucci) from the civil war en route to her jungle hospital.

''Tears of the Sun'' is a 2003 American war film, depicting a United States Navy SEAL team rescue mission amidst a civil war in the West African country of Nigeria. Lt. A.K. Waters (Creator/BruceWillis) commands the team sent to rescue U.S. citizen Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks (Creator/MonicaBellucci) from the civil war en route to her jungle hospital.

* WhatTheHellHero: Doctor Kendrick lays into Lieutenant Waters for tricking her into thinking he would save the refugees while really intending on abandoning them at the last moment. [[spoiler: Gets turned on its head later after Waters chooses to help her and she continues to mislead him about why the rebels would be hunting them.]]

* RetroactiveRecognition: The rebel colonel is also the Persian messenger in ''Film/300''.

* TheVoiceless: Sadick.