Director: Edward Zwick
Year Released: 2006
Rating: 2.0
A mercenary (Leonardo DiCaprio) and a fisherman (Djimon Hounsou) go on the hunt for a rare pink diamond Hounsou buried in Sierra Leone while working as a slave - meanwhile, in other parts of Africa, warlords and their minions, fueled with bloodlust, appear at the most opportune times, ready to cut off limbs and blow shit up. Just like The Constant Gardener, this is one of those liberal guilt movies, positing political discourse between the gory aspects to get into why the blushing bride from Long Island with the shiny rock on her finger should really be blushing. There are some interesting (if fairly) obvious points about the region - and the ineffectiveness of journalism to really get at the heart of things - but the script is mechanical in terms of plotting. Hounsou becomes so enraged at times he almost veers into comical territory while nosy journalist Jennifer Connelly (who is aging marvelously) is incapable to do much with the thankless love interest role - DiCaprio, between this and The Departed, had a hell of a 2006 (though I cannot attest to the accuracy of his accent).
