Navy SEAL Lieutenant A.K. Waters and his elite squadron of tactical specialists are forced to choose between their duty and their humanity, between following orders by ignoring the conflict that surrounds them, or finding the courage to follow their conscience and protect a group of innocent refugees. When the democratic government of Nigeria collapses and the country is taken over by a ruthless military dictator, Waters, a fiercely loyal and hardened veteran is dispatched on a routine mission to retrieve a Doctors Without Borders physician.
Fuqua ... can stage action, but he can't save a trivializing, reactionary script featuring a Hollywood star (read America) as a global savior.
– Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone,
12 Mar 2003
rotten:
Raping and pillaging and blowing things up is mainly what this movie is about, although it claims to show how the most robotic, dehumanized soldiers can be transformed by human suffering.
– Rex Reed,
New York Observer,
20 Mar 2003
rotten:
Deserves the bad reviews and the lackluster earnings it has accumulated thus far.
– Andrew Sarris,
New York Observer,
4 Apr 2003
rotten:
Will a thinking audience really buy the image of helpless, grateful people bestowing kisses and victory songs upon Willis as the representative of all things American: power, guts, compassion?