Navy SEAL, Lt. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) leads a military unit to rescue Dr. Lena Hendricks (Monica Bellucci), an American, after the government is overthrown in Nigeria. She is in charge of an International Relief Mission outpost.
Lt. Waters interrupts Dr. Hendricks during a surgical operation, which provides the opportunity for the viewer to understand that both are in charge, headstrong leaders. When she understands that he's there to take her, a priest and a few nuns out of the country, before the rebel soldiers arrive at the mission and kill them, she refuses to go unless the 70 African residents of the mission can also leave. Waters agrees, but his plan is that when it's time to get on the helicopter, only the "package" (Dr. Hendricks) in their mission will be extracted and not the Africans, even if she is put on the copter kicking and screaming as she leaves her patients.
Once airborne they fly over the mission, where the rebels, bent on ethnic cleansing, have left slaughtered bodies for all to see. And Waters, for reasons he does not understand, goes back to help the group left at the LZ (landing zone), from which they just departed. Those not able to move quickly on foot are placed on the helicopter, and Waters, the doctor and the others are in a foot race to leave Nigeria and make it to nearby Cameroon.
The rebel soldiers are in hot pursuit and closing ground because there is a spy in the midst of the Waters entourage, who has a transmitter. Waters' team knows something must be going on because the hand-held computer with GPS shows they will likely be in combat with a larger, heavily armed, force. A sub plot relates to why, other than general genocide, the rebels are intent on finding this particular group.
Plenty of action and close calls reign as Waters leads his band in their escape. Water's squad redefines the meaning of the "rules of engagement," which takes us up close and personal as to what modern day ethnic cleansing means. Lots of bodies fall on both sides.
The film is melodramatic, formulaic and intensely political. It shows what happens when diplomacy breaks down and the good guys do nothing to assist the helpless.
Willis has the hero role down pat and Bellucci shows that she has an earthiness to her that makes her believable in widely different roles (see filmography below). The members of the military squad seem to be there so some good guys can get killed to provide balance to the action. After the Nigerian President and most of his family are killed, the overthrow appears to be complete. Now the citizens have the same chance for survival as those in Rwanda in the 1990's when the world stood by and did nothing.
As we approach what appears to be a certain war in Iraq, the question is raised as to what role super powers and/or organizations such as the UN and NATO should play when it comes to taking action against ruthless leaders. Should regime change be forced because militarists might do something to another nation rather than what they are doing to their own citizens? Under what circumstances, if any, should outside organizations force a regime change to protect the citizens of other countries when there is no "national security" issue? Over the past 50 years there have been numerous cases for learning lessons, and overall the world seems to be a relatively safer place because of it. 9/11 put a new spin on things and with the likely path of war with Iraq, a devastating turn, with more violence over the long haul, appears to be on the horizon.
I like being right but in this case, I hope I'm wrong. Diplomacy with the use of financial disincentives (military blockades, making life difficult for countries that aid our enemies, etc.) should be exhausted before we may possibly start an all out holy war. Everything and anything can be done in the name of God, and historically has been. Whether from the viewpoint of Hussein, Bin Laden or Bush, when has war been other than a `Grand Illusion' of being a good thing?
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