Goofs for
Tears of the Sun (2003) More at IMDbPro »

• Continuity: When the two fighter-bombers take off from the aircraft carrier in the final battle, they only have drop tanks, no missiles or other visible armaments. As they fly over to the battle, they now have six missiles each.
  
  
• Continuity: Waters' beard varies in length inconsistently throughout the film.
  
  
• Continuity: The time shown on Rhodes' watch changes inconsistently between shots when he is talking to Waters.
  
  

• Continuity: After the explosion injures some of the refugees, Dr. Kendricks is holding the side of her head in close-ups but is not in the wider shots.
  
  
• Continuity: When the SEAL team sets out to HALO jump into Nigeria, the aircraft they jump out of is different than the plane they got into.
  
  
• Errors in geography: Many of the refugees depicted are Sudanese from the other side of Africa. Ibo tribesmen are Bantu, Sudanese are Nilotics from the East.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the refugees are hiding in the jungle as the rebels pass, the sound of the baby crying can be heard but the baby doesn't have its mouth open.
  
  
• Continuity: When Dr. Kendricks is injured and lying on the ground she brings her hand to her head in a close up as she speaks to Waters, but long and medium shots show her with her arm down.
  
  
• Continuity: When the SEALs jump from the aircraft it is shown in different shots as two different aircraft types. A side shot shows a type with fins on the extremities of the horizontal stabilizer, but the shot looking up after they jump shows a conventional tail with a single central vertical stabilizer.
  
  
• Factual errors: The aim-point sight on Lt. Waters's M-4 is incorrectly mounted. It is facing in the wrong direction, making it useless.
  
  
• Factual errors: While marriage to an American citizen has certain benefits and may ease the path to citizenship, a person cannot become an American citizen "by marriage".
  
  
• Factual errors: In one scene, the Captain of the USS HST is talking on a Radio to the SEALS while on the flight deck near the Landing Zone. As he's talking a E-2 Hawkeye is landing behind him. Although he is allowed in that area, he is not wearing a Cranial Helmet which is required during all Flight operations on any Aircraft Carrier. Even as the Skipper, he is not above the safety rules set in place during flight operations.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the end when the people are singing to Arthur Azuka, their mouths don't move, they don't match the lyrics.
  
  
• Factual errors: The planes providing air support are seen carrying two infrared air-to-air missiles (AIM-9M Sidewinders) and four radar-guided air-to-air missiles (AIM-120 AMRAAM) each, neither of which can be used against ground targets. Even if they could, the effect would not be significant against an enemy concentration of such size. The explosions in the movie look more like an incendiary weapon of some kind though, which is not what they were carrying.
  
  
• Continuity: When the Captain is standing on the carrier deck talking on the satellite phone, an F-18 Hornet traps (lands) on the deck behind him. 13 Seconds later, a second F-18 traps on the deck. It is not possible to reset the cable and clear the deck in 13 seconds, and would be considered unsafe to do so.
  
  
• Continuity: When the F-18 is launched at the end of the movie it has no weapons loaded on its pylons. When they are in the air they are shown to have a full weapons load.
  
  
• Factual errors: During the scene where Dr Kendricks was talking over the CB radio with a US embassy personnel for help, right after her first sentence, we hear the man on the other end reply. Yet, she never appeared to release the "talk" button, meaning she is still in "transmit" mode and won't be able to "receive" incoming broadcasts unless she release the "talk" button first.
  
  
• Factual errors: In the credits, thanks is given to VFA-203, when actually the planes seen on the deck in the beginning if the movie belong to VFA-204.
  
  
• Factual errors: The means of communications between Rhodes and Waters is not possible. Rhodes is using a satellite mobile phone whilst Water' unit is using a tactical radio with a satellite capability. It would also be inconceivable for a Navy Seal Captain to have to speak to his troops on a mission from the noisy flight deck of an enormous aircraft carrier with dedicated communication links set aside for those assets in the field.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): During the first few minutes of the final battle, the lieutenant puts a new clip into his gun and proceeds with the cliché "clip smack" to make sure its in the gun all the way. While attempting this, the lieutenant misses the clip entirely.
  
  
• Continuity: When they were leaving the village they said it was 12 clicks to the pick up point. Later they said they have gone 5 clicks and have 7 more miles to go. 1 click (kilometer) equals 0.62 miles.
  
  

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