Tears of the Sun is a 2003 action film starring Bruce Willis as a SEAL commander who leads a team into Nigeria during a coup to extract Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), an American doctor. When she goes with the team to the extraction site along with the 80 some refugees from her village, the SEALs take only her. After seeing the atrocities committed on the village, Lt. Waters has a change of heart and turns the helicopters around. He and his SEAL team then become determined to get the doctor and the refugees to the border before the rebel militants can find them.
The following weapons can be seen in the film Tears of the Sun:
Lieutenant Waters (Bruce Willis), Flea (Chad Smith), and Lake (Johnny Messner) use M4A1 carbines as their primary weapons. "Flea" has a Combat Military Optics LTD Marksman Series Model 100[1] scope on the carry handle, a cheek pad on the stock, a suppressor, and a custom paintjob of green and black (there is no such thing as a 6x48 Sightron S33). "Lake" has a suppressor on his carbine. Both Lake and Lt. Waters have M68 Aimpoint scopes fitted on their weapons. When the team first arrives in Africa, their M4A1's are fitted with PVS-14 night-vision scopes which are removed once morning arrives. Lt. Waters' also has a D-LAP Laser sight, essentially a more compact PEQ-2A. It is worth noting that they use the correct, modern flash hiders rather than the A1 style used on so many movie M4A1s and M16A2s.
A few of the Marines disembarking the helicopter in the beginning of the film are carrying M16A2 rifles, as well as a few Marines at the end of the film.
M16A1 rifles are used by Nigerian soldiers in the opening scene of the director's cut of the film.
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M25 Sniper Rifle
An M25 Sniper Rifle (The U.S. Navy's designation for the M21 Sniper Rifle, which is a U.S. Army designation) is carried by Silk (Charles Ingram). It is covered in heavy custom camo and mounts a Leupold & Stevens Mark 4 LR/T 10x40 M1 rifle scope. He uses the weapon throughout the movie. It is noted as being of the actual M14/M21/M25 series and not a Springfield M1A by the notch which would normally contain the fire-selector switch. M14s were known to be difficult to control firing fully-automatic so many actual M14s and their derivatives were modified by setting them to semiautomatic and then removing the selector switch to make them semiautomatic-only. However the notch for selector switch itself remains. Rifles manufactured for civilian sale (such as the M1A) do not feature selective fire, and as such do not have the notch made for a selector switch.
The most commonly used assault rifle on the African continent, AKM rifles are seen in the hands of militants, refugees, and Doc, (Paul Francis) who took it from a dead militant. He is never seen using it, but after the village raid, he most likely gave it to a refugee, as they acquired a lot of them then.
Slo (Nick Chinlund), the squad's designated heavy gunner and tech-guy is seen with his paratrooper version of the M249 SAW throughout the movie, until he is killed in a shootout with the rebels. Silk (Charles Ingram) then uses the weapon during the climax firefight.
Red (Cole Hauser), the team’s designated heavy-gunner is seen armed with a M60E4 machine gun without the film. Doc (Paul Francis) wields the weapon when Red runs to set-up a Claymore. Another Navy SEAL who accompanies Captain Bill Rhodes (Tom Skerritt) also wields a M60E4.
The M72 LAW (Light Anti-Tank Weapon) is seen having been carried by Red (Cole Hauser) and Slo (Nick Chinlund). The two weapons are fired by Lake and Flea.
The pistol designed especially for USSOCOM, the Heckler & Koch Mark 23 is used by several Navy SEALs, including Lt. Waters, Zee, Red, Flea, Lake, and Slo.
The team’s forward scout, Lake (Johnny Messner) carries both a Remington 870 and a M4A1. The shotgun is equipped with an extended magazine tube, a side saddle shell holder, and a strange compensator(I believe this is a "duckbill" attachment. It makes the shot spray into a horizontal pattern.) The squad’s designated marksman, Flea (Chad Smith), takes the shotgun after Lake is shot, but the weapon was dropped and Flea switched back to his M4A1.
The team’s demolition man, Red (Cole Hauser), carried three M18A1 Claymores into the field with him. He uses two to ambush the militants and later uses it to hold back enemy troops.
At the climax of the film, a pair of F/A-18A Hornets are launched to provide close air support for the SEALs, the Hornets being armed with M61 Vulcans as secondary armament, though the Hornets engage the rebels with air to ground missiles instead of their guns.
