It depicts a fictitious U.S. Navy SEAL team rescue mission amidst the 21st-century version of the civil war in Nigeria.

Waters (Bruce Willis) commands the team sent to rescue U.S. citizen Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks (Monica Bellucci) before the approaching rebels reach her jungle hospital.

Waters calls Rhodes for options; after a conversation, he concedes to Kendricks' wishes and agrees to take those refugees who can walk.

Kendricks warns Waters that the rebels are heading to the mission, but he is determined to carry out his orders, so they continue to the extraction point.

When the team arrives at the extraction point, Waters' initial plan becomes clear: the SEALs turn away the refugees from the waiting helicopter.

En route back to the Harry Truman, they fly over the original mission compound, seeing it destroyed and all its occupants murdered.

A firefight ensues when the rebels catch up with them, and the SEALs decide to stay behind as rearguard to buy the refugees enough time to reach the border.

Kendricks bids farewells to her Nigerian friends and flies away in a helicopter while comforting Waters, watching as Arthur is surrounded by his people proclaiming their freedom.

[7] According to the Blu-ray factoid, the aircraft carrier scenes were filmed aboard the active USS Harry S. Truman, 60 miles (97 km) east of Cape Hatteras in the Atlantic Ocean.

An ex-member of the commando wrote the original story and suggested it when he met the production team of Executive Decision (1996) on a set in Nevada.

[12] The 20-minutes longer "Director's Extended Cut" was released on DVD in 2005 and begins with the killing of the Nigerian president, adding political context.

He initially wanted to tell a raw, realistic story about human suffering in war, especially focusing on the African crisis.

Fuqua felt this dynamic, combined with their differing creative visions, created tension on set, ultimately forcing him to make compromises on the film’s direction.