The Mercenaries is set in the lawless brutal jungles of the Congo during a bloody civil war & starts as President Ubi (Calvin Lockhart) & Belgian diamond mining company owner Delage (Guy Deghy) hire American Congo Special Forces mercenary Captain Bruce Curry (Rod Taylor) & his Congo native partner Sergeant Ruffo (Jim Brown) to travel to a small town, save it's people from rebel Simba forces & also bring back $50 million worth of diamonds. Togethr with forty odd soldiers from 'Striker Blue Force' as protection the men travel across the Congo jungle by train but rebel forces & danger is never far away & having $50 million in diamonds also creates it's own problems as Captain Curry has to mastermind the rescue of innocent civilians as well as keep himself & his men alive...

More commonly known under the title Dark of the Sun these days this British production was directed by famed Oscar winning English cinematographer Jack Cardiff who was actually the uncredited cinematographer on The Mercenaries & is a pretty good action adventure featuring plenty of heroes, villains, battle scenes, some nice jungle scenery, some moralistic preaching & a solid plot although it did leave me slightly cold for some reason. The script was based on the novel by Wilbur Smith which was called Dark of the Sun rather than The Mercenaries & by all accounts has significant differences although I have not read it. According to the IMDb diamonds aren't mined in the Congo so I guess authenticity wasn't high on the makers agenda despite being set in & around historically accurate events. The plot moves along at a decent pace, there's enough action & adventure to stop most viewers becoming bored & it's also a film that tries to have many messages & themes run & develop concurrently along with the story. From the likes of trust, friendship, redemption, the moral problems of war & Colonial rule, several themes revolving around racism & the exploration of several strikingly different mens motives for being who they actually are & why they are doing what they are doing. One good aspect is that the moral issues never really bog down the main story & are fairly well judged, sure by the end it might have spent a little bit too long on the drama aspects but not really at the expense of the action & I personally thought it was a well paced & well judged film never letting any one particular aspect overtake the film as a whole. Clocking in at around the 100 minute mark the film doesn't outstay it's welcome & it never becomes boring but for some reason it never really excited me, it never really drew me in or engaged me, the character's were broad stereotypes & I also thought it was a little predictable. The Mercenaries is good for sure but just how good will probably depend on the viewers tastes, I think most people would enjoy it (like me) but maybe not everyone would love it (like me).

The Mercenaries actually looks terrific & was apparently shot on location in Jamaica, the jungle scenery is very nice, lush & exotic with director & cinematographer Cardiff making good use of the 2:35:1 Panavision frame & full widescreen is really the only way you should be watching this. For a fairly obscure film such as The Mercenaries a lot of time & effort seems to have been lavished on it, the sets, the action, the location filming & cast are very good & very polished. The action scenes are fun & suitably explosive, there is a bit of blood, a bit of torture at the end, a cool chainsaw fight & some bad language which all seem tame by 2008 standards but for a mainstream film way in 1968 this was probably quite shocking & graphic.

The production values are high & the film looks really nice with good stunt work & effects. The acting is pretty good although not outstanding, Rod Taylor & Jim brown make likable heroes while the obligatory female love interest Yvette Mimieux has little to do.

The Mercenaries is a good old fashioned action adventure film that I liked but didn't love, despite not being able to say exactly why there was something about it that left me a bit cold & detached. Good but not great.

DARK OF THE SUN ( As I know it though there`s several different titles for the film ) is the simple stoy of a bunch of mercenaries in 60s Congo liberating a bunch of Europeans ( And more importantly a lot of diamonds ) besieged by the muderous Simba nationalist cult. Throw in a load of cliches like a drunken doctor , a damsal in distress , a nazi war criminal , a redemption sub plot with the hero gaining his humanity , tedious moral dialogue about the future of Africa and several revealing mistakes where the victims of Simba violence are quite clearly stuffed dummies and you might think this is a really bad film . Maybe it is but it`s also good old fashioned entertainment . The battle scenes may have dated somewhat compared to BLACK HAWK DOWN and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN but they still pack a punch especially the editing when the action cuts from the Simba hordes attacking the train to the hero and the banker waiting patiently for the time lock to open the vault where the diamonds are stored. If you liked THE WILD GEESE you`ll like this film too

Dark Of The Sun is one superior action film showing the difficulties of the African liberation period of the 50s and 60s. A whole continent of nations gained their independence from European powers no longer able to govern. In many places the struggle goes on with different players and different issues. No place was more bloody than the Congo now renamed as the Republic of Zaire.

The mineral riches of Africa however are still controlled by the west and nobody wants to lose their investment. Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are a couple of mercenary soldiers who are asked by diamond merchants to retrieve a cache of diamonds from a small town and by the way rescue the people there if you can.

The conflict of Taylor and Brown and their motivations are what sets the story going. Taylor is strictly for hire on a cash basis. Brown likes money, but he's from Africa, got a scholarship for an education in the USA and wants to see democracy and stability in his country. They like, but don't quite get the other.

Into the mix comes Peter Karsten a former Nazi who proudly wears a swastika necklace that Taylor orders him to can. He's absorbed all the values of the country he formerly served.

All of them have to face the rebels who are a bloodthirsty lot. Of all the places that was exploited the former Belgian Congo was far and away the worst. A lot of rage is fueling these people as you'll see in this film.

Yvette Mimieux is one of the rescued people and she ignites a lot of sexual tension between all three men. There's also a nice performance from Kenneth More who is an alcoholic doctor in the John Ford tradition.

Something Jack Cardiff picked up no doubt from Ford when he took over direction of Young Cassidy. The whole espirit de corps notions among the mercenaries is pure Ford and Taylor's breach of that is also dealt with in the film. What the breach is I won't say, but Taylor had just provocation.

Dark Of The Sun holds up well as a portrait of Africa in turmoil in the Sixties. As for the diamond connection, that's still alive and thriving as a viewing of Leonardo DiCaprio's Blood Diamond will show.

In fact they really ought to be viewed back to back. Was Jim Brown a bit too optimistic?