Double Feature

April 2008 - A is for April. And, this April, A is also for action! If you like a little action with your movies, here are two films that should be right up your alley.

Bruce Willis sees plenty of action in Tears of the Sun, an R-rated drama from 2003. Willis plays a Navy SEAL leading a team into Nigeria, where a militant rebel group has just overthrown the democratic government.

The SEALS are sent to a mission where an American (by marriage) doctor is caring for refugees. The SEALS are supposed to bring back the doctor, but she refuses to leave unless they also take all the refugees who are able to travel. When they finally get to the rescue area, the SEALs take the doctor but leave the refugees behind.

The rescue helicopter then flies over the mission, which has been burned by the rebels. At this point, Willis orders the chopper to turn back to where the refugees were left behind. The kids and the old folks are put on the chopper and taken to Cameroon. Willis, his team, the doctor and the rest of the refugees must make the journey through the jungle on foot.

Overall review: Loved it! The movie works on an emotional level, but there's also plenty of action for people who like to see stuff blown up.

You’ll also see a lot of stuff blown up in the R-rated Shooter, a 2007 drama in which Mark Wahlberg takes aim at a right-wing conspiracy. Danny Glover and Ned Beatty also star.

Wahlberg plays Bob Lee Swagger, a Marine sniper. When the movie opens, Swagger and his spotter are in Ethiopia. Their mission goes to hell and the spotter is killed. Swagger shoots down a chopper, and then it's three years later and Swagger is back in the US living in a mountain cabin with his dog.

That's where Danny Glover tracks him down. Glover says he's a Colonel who's gotten word of a plan to assassinate the president. He needs Swagger to help him foil the plot. Swagger is disillusioned but patriotic, so he agrees.

It turns out that Glover and his crew are private contractors with connections to a powerful senator (Beatty). Their real intent is to assassinate some Ethiopian archbishop and make Swagger, who wasn't supposed to get out of Ethiopia alive three years ago, the fall guy. The assassination takes place in Philadelphia, and Swagger isn't supposed to get out of there alive, either. But, he does, and goes on the run.

Overall Review: You'll either like it or say it's just OK, depending on how many questions you want to ask. For example, how does Swagger drive from Philadelphia to Kentucky in a vehicle that gets maybe 15 m.p.g.? Does he stop to buy gas? If so, how does he pay for it? And, how did he get out of Ethiopia in the first place? The fewer questions you ask, the more you'll enjoy the movie's non-stop, scene-changing action.