Tears of the Sun, with The Bruce [Archive]

View Full Version : Tears of the Sun, with The Bruce

Anonymous

03-07-2003, 06:43 PM

Raise your hands if you saw this today.

Okay.

SPOILER BELOW

I thought it was fairly conventional, as well as predictable. I even figured out early on that there must have been a presidential family member hiding amongst the refugees. As well as the sole African American member of the Seal Team having his "bonding" moment with "his people."

Still, it was a well-made movie, technically. Not without its plot holes, though. And Monica Belluci has got to be amongst the most beautiful women in the world today, even if she can't act. Rrrrrrr. And I certainly am getting sick of the recycled African stereotypes. Either they're butchers on a scale that would make Hitler queasy, or they're absolutely helpless sheep just waiting to get raped and mutilated.

The movie also has the luck of being a "timely and relevent" movie, or at least that's what people will say. I can see how all sides on the Iraq debate could take something out of this, though it would probably fall on the pro-intervention side, with The Bruce being something of a conservative. Plus, just for good measure, they throw in that Burke quote at the end. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Shady

03-07-2003, 10:16 PM

From the NY Times...

Bruce Willis plays a Navy Seals lieutenant on a rescue mission in this spectacularly incoherent exercise in geopolitical wish fulfillment.

Nuff said!

Tyjenks

03-08-2003, 05:48 AM

I have not seen it, but Bruce is one of the few if not only actors left who can pull off being a bad ass and with little or no effort. His squinty eyed scowl wins me over every time. So even if its just average I will most likely love it.

Admitted Bruce Willis fanboy.

DrCrypt

03-08-2003, 06:57 AM

And I certainly am getting sick of the recycled African stereotypes. Either they're butchers on a scale that would make Hitler queasy, or they're absolutely helpless sheep just waiting to get raped and mutilated.
Jeez, me too. And even the press is in on the insidious stereotype perpetuation! Everwhere I look its news agencies around the world, their voices saturated with smug cultural superiority, "Blah blah, two million Congoese dead within two years (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2826157.stm)! Zany savages!" and "Rwanda kills four million native Tutsis (http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0613/p09s02-coop.html) within ten weeks. Its like a minstrel Monty Python doing a Hitler skit!"

And although both those examples stress the "murderous butchers" sterotype, they also strive to new heights of pan-offensiveness in the way they also implicate that the victims are "helpless sheep just waiting to get raped and mutilated". Do you think it would be less offensive if the media stressed that the helpless sheep deserve it?

And don't even get me started on the ultimate stereotype of helpless sheep - mass baby rape (http://www.usafricaonline.com/safrica_childrapes.html). The main plot point of Hollywood's next African-derogatory Bruce Willis film?

I do agree that there is a stereotype being perpetuated in Hollywood in regards to Africa, but that stereotype is one that inevitably makes Africa seem largely better than it really is, not worse. Which is a shame, because if any area in the world requires a greater awareness in the American public's mind, which would hopefully lead to a lot more humanitarian aid being sent over there, it is Africa.

PS: Africa Pundit (http://africapundit.blogspot.com) is a good repository of all the daily news out of Africa.

Aszurom

03-09-2003, 04:01 PM

The answer to the horrifying scourge, many experts including government officials say, can be found in the myth propagated by some sangomas or traditional healers that sex with a virgin will cure AIDS. Ironically, the country has launched a blistering campaign to counter ignorance about AIDS but rape activists said the myth seemed to be gaining ground. South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and sufferers are easy prey to so-called cures touted by sangomas.

I tole' da witchdoctor, and dis is what he said... ooh aah, ooo-aa-aa, oo-ee wallawalla bing bang.

Supertanker

03-09-2003, 04:24 PM

Brian 'Veloxi' Rubin

03-09-2003, 05:49 PM

I saw this on Fark. Watch the interview of Bruce Willis (http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/bitchat/story/0,24330,3416425,00.html) by Martin what's-his-name from TechTV. Martin doesn't follow the usual line of questioning, and Bruce starts to get a little cheesed.
Who could blame Bruce for being annoyed, the kid who's interviewing him is a blithering idiot, plain and simple.

Brandon Clements

03-09-2003, 05:54 PM

Jonathan Blow

03-10-2003, 02:00 AM

I have one objection to this thread.

Bruce Willis is not, in fact, The Bruce. That honorific is reserved for another actor, star of such fine films as Bubba Ho-Tep.

-J.

GMicek

03-10-2003, 02:11 AM

It's interesting. I've never heard Bruce Willis be referred to as "The Bruce." To my knowledge his nickname is 'Bruno.'

Oh yeah, the movie was just slightly below average. But I have a feeling that it's one of those movies I would tear apart if I saw it a second time.

VegasRobb

03-10-2003, 06:29 AM

*SPOILER ALERT*

I thought it was pretty good up to the first helicopter ride, after that it became pretty average. Bruce Willis seemed to have some trouble with playing the hardass who discovers he has a heart ... the line "what does it take to earn(?) your trust?" had me rolling my eyes.

Switching to pistols for the village fight was cool.

For some reason, I dislike seeing American soldiers get shot up right now.

Anonymous

03-27-2003, 09:33 PM

Weird, looks like TechTv took down that interview with Willis. Was it that awful? Is it anywhere else?

Every anti-war hippie should see this movie and really think about that quote at the end.

Anonymous

03-27-2003, 10:25 PM

Every anti-war hippie should see this movie and really think about that quote at the end.

And every airmchair hawk who hasn't been shot at should see this one:

http://www.eufs.org.uk//films/johnny_got_his_gun.html

http://variagate.com/john14.jpg

Bub, Andrew

03-28-2003, 08:57 AM

"Darkness. Imprisoning me. All that I see. Absolute horror. I cannot live. I cannot die...."

Kyle Wilson

03-28-2003, 01:02 PM

And every airmchair hawk who hasn't been shot at should see this one:

http://www.eufs.org.uk//films/johnny_got_his_gun.html

I saw that Metallica video. Is that good enough?

Anonymous

03-28-2003, 02:25 PM

If you consider watching the video for "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by the Police a good substitute for reading Nabokov's Lolita, then sure.

Anonymous

03-29-2003, 12:03 AM

retartedhampster

03-29-2003, 10:01 PM

besides the nice clevage shots, there really no reson to see this poor willis movie.

Anonymous

03-29-2003, 11:19 PM

Ahh yes.. Magnificent point there Kayo. I now agree. Let's not go to war. Instead of some guy getting hurt or shot in a war, let's just let people get hurt, shot, tortured, murdered, raped, etc and just sit in our comfy little chairs and sip our hot tea.

Well, since the USA is currently

hurting Iraqi civilians = check
shooting Iraqi civilians = check
torturing Afghanis under interrogation = check
murdering Afghanis under interrogation = check
raping people = not that i know of. good one, USA!
etc. = oh, yeah!

all in the name of stopping hurt, shooting, torture, murder, and rape, I guess you're right, I'd rather we sat in our comfy chairs and sipped our tea.

Anonymous

03-30-2003, 10:26 PM

Well, since the USA is currently

hurting Iraqi civilians = check
shooting Iraqi civilians = check
torturing Afghanis under interrogation = check
murdering Afghanis under interrogation = check
raping people = not that i know of. good one, USA!
etc. = oh, yeah!

all in the name of stopping hurt, shooting, torture, murder, and rape, I guess you're right, I'd rather we sat in our comfy chairs and sipped our tea.

Uh, can you provide objective evidence that the "USA" is currently shooting Iraqi civilians and torturing and murdering Afghanis?

Didn't think so. Stop making shit up, you fucking liberal tard.

Anonymous

03-30-2003, 10:36 PM

Uh, can you provide objective evidence that the "USA" is currently shooting Iraqi civilians and torturing and murdering Afghanis?

Didn't think so. Stop making shit up, you fucking liberal tard.

Too bad you didn't wait for an answer. 'Cause here it is, you pitiful cocksmoker.

Shooting Iraqi civilians:

http://archive.nytimes.com/2003/03/29/international/worldspecial/29HALT.html

"We dropped a few civilians," Sergeant Schrumpf said, "but what do you do?"

Torturing and murdering Afghanis:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/05/detainee.homicides/index.html

The men died shortly after arriving at Bagram air base north of the Afghan capital, Kabul. The first man died December 3 of a pulmonary embolism and the second one December 10 of a heart attack.

Autopsies found that "blunt force trauma" was a contributing factor in both cases, military sources said.

Both death certificates have "homicide" checked off for the cause of death. The other options on the death certificates are natural, accident or suicide. U.S. military personnel conducted the autopsies.

Sucks to be you.[/quote]

Captain Cookiepants

03-31-2003, 12:09 AM

Too bad you didn't wait for an answer. 'Cause here it is, you pitiful cocksmoker.

Shooting Iraqi civilians:

http://archive.nytimes.com/2003/03/29/international/worldspecial/29HALT.html

"We dropped a few civilians," Sergeant Schrumpf said, "but what do you do?"

Both marines said they were most frustrated by the practice of some Iraqi soldiers to use unarmed women and children as shields against American bullets. They called the tactic cowardly but agreed that it had been effective. Both Sergeant Schrumpf and Corporal McIntosh said they had declined several times to shoot at Iraqi soldiers out of fear they might hit civilians.

Wasn't this covered already? Didn't that radio interview bring up that Iraqis realize they might die, but under Saddam they WILL die and are willing to take that chance?

Also I thought 'The Bruce' was Bruce Springstein? Or is he 'the boss'?

Anonymous

03-31-2003, 12:25 AM

Didn't that radio interview bring up that Iraqis realize they might die, but under Saddam they WILL die and are willing to take that chance?

Holy shit, watta moron. One radio interview covers the opinion of all Iraqis regarding whether or not they are willing to die in our invasion. Whomever conducted that interview should come over to the US; we'd have instant election results with one interview!

Woo!