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Archer
Danny Archer
Played By: Leonardo DiCaprio
"That diamond is my ticket out of this godforsaken continent."
A jaded ex-mercenary and diamond smuggler, looking for a way out of Africa.
- Amoral Afrikaner: Downplayed. He is both quite the Anti-Hero and Politically Incorrect Hero, but he is portrayed with a pretty sympathetic backstory and is ultimately a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: Fought in the Zimbabwe Civil Warnote , then as a mercenary before becoming a smuggler dealing in weapons and diamonds.
- Dark and Troubled Past: His childhood was not a happy one; his parents were brutally murdered when he was nine, and then Colonel Coetzee trained him to become a killer.
- Freudian Excuse: His tragic backstory goes some way to explaining how he became such a jaded asshole.
- Perma-Stubble: Sports this look constantly.
- Private Military Contractors: Implied to have spent some time as one under Coetzee
- We Used to Be Friends: His relationship with Cordell Brown gives off this vibe.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He's almost a victim of this from Coetzee.
Solomon
Solomon Vandy
Played By: Djimon Hounsou
"He is my son. I am his father. I must go find him. Go ahead, shoot me if you want, but I will go find him."
A Mende fisherman trying to provide for his family.
- Action Survivor: An unlucky everyman who's thrust into several life-threatening situations.
- Badass Pacifist: Although he finds himself in many dangerous situations, Solomon never resorts to violence save for when he takes revenge on Captain Poison for endangering his son.
- Determinator: Even though he's a mild-mannered fisherman with no combat experience, he stops at nothing to rescue his son from the rebels.
- The Everyman: Solomon is just a fisherman living with his family in rural Sierra Leone. Through sheer misfortune, he gets thrust into a dangerous intrigue between both the bloodthirsty RUF and a band of opportunistic Boer mercenaries.
- Large Ham: Normally he's stone-faced and placid, but becomes absolutely livid when he bludgeons Poison to death with a spade.
- Papa Wolf: Nothing, absolutely nothing will stop Solomon from rescuing his son.
- Scary Black Man: When he's killing Captain Poison, his sheer anger makes him pretty scary.
- Shovel Strike: How he kills Captain Poison.
- Took a Level in Badass: He's just a fisherman with no combat training at all, but he's pushed far enough that he manages to pummel Captain Poison to death.
- Unstoppable Rage: After remaining calm the entire film, Solomon cuts loose on Captain Poison.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He's almost a victim of this from Coetzee.
Maddy
Maddy Bowen
Played By: Jennifer Connelly
"Three out of five ex-boyfriends polled think I need to be in a constant state of crisis. Maybe I just give a shit."
An American journalist who aids Danny and Solomon.
- Can't Believe I Said That: Name-dropped and Played for Drama as Maddy realizes how cynical she's become."The entire country's at war. Why should I help this one person? (beat) I can't believe I just said that."
- Intrepid Reporter: Maddy is very determined to expose the horrors of the diamond trade.
- Refuge in Audacity: She manages to defuse a stand-off with a local militia by offering to take their pictures.
Dia
Dia Vandy
Played By: Kagiso Kuypers
Solomon's beloved son.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: By Captain Poison and the RUF.
- Child Soldiers: Captain Poison turns him into one.
- Corrupt the Cutie: Dia's a nice kid, and Captain Poison puts him through all kinds of brainwashing techniques to twist him into a merciless soldier. Thankfully, Solomon gets to him before it becomes permanent.
- Living Macguffin: Averted; he's Solomon's motivation but we see plenty of Dia's story and he gets a character arc of his own.
Colonel Coetzee
Colonel Coetzee
Played By: Arnold Vosloo
A ruthless mercenary commander who employs Danny.
- Affably Evil: Coetzee can be a pretty likable guy when he's not killing people.
- Amoral Afrikaner: His only motivation is profit.
- Bad Boss: He's certainly not above killing his own men without a second thought.
- Big Bad: Coetzee is the most present antagonist.
- Boom, Headshot!: How Danny finishes him off.
- Colonel Badass: Rides in the Hind gunship leading the attack on the rebel mining camp, and his service record indicates this is nothing new.
- Defiant to the End: His final line is to comment on how messed up Africa is, then he draws to fire on Danny.
- Double Tap: Danny manages to get the upper hand on him, shooting him in the chest and then in the head.
- Evil Mentor: He recruited Danny when he was just a boy, and turned him into a badass mercenary.
- Expy: Of Colonel Eeben Barlow, the South African head of the extraordinarily successful PMC Executive Outcomes, which turned the war around in Sierra Leone. His firm is one for EO as well, right down to the helicopter gunships and jumbo jets used.
- Friendly Enemy: He and Archer are about as friendly as two people doing their damnedest to kill each other can be.
- Mutual Kill: He dies at Danny's hands but not before one of his shots manages to hit Danny in the gut, which ultimately proves to be fatal.
- Playing Both Sides: As noted by Danny. He sells arms to the rebels, then the government pays him to take the rebels out when they become a problem.
- Private Military Contractors: He owns his own mercenary company, a thinly disguised expy of Executive Outcomes.
- Villainous Rescue: He leads an attack on the diamond mining camp in an MI-24 Hind gunship, giving Solomon the chance to kill Captain Poison.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Plans to do this to Danny and Solomon.
Cordell Brown
Cordell Brown
Played By: Antony Coleman
Colonel Coetzee's right-hand man.
- Human Shield: Danny uses him as a human shield, and Coetzee subsequently shoots him.
- The Dragon: To Colonel Coetzee.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Mention is made of his wife and children.
- Faux Affably Evil: He acts pleasant enough to Danny, but there's a definite smug undertone to the conversation.
- Private Military Contractors: Like Danny, except Brown hasn't retired to become a smuggler.
- We Used to Be Friends: His interactions with Danny give off this vibe.
Jassie
Jassie Vandy
Played By: Benu Mabhena
N'Yanda
N'Yanda Vandy
Played By: Anointing Lukola
Poison
Captain Poison
Played By: David Harewood
"You think I am a devil. But only because I have lived in hell."
A vicious warlord of the Revolutionary United Front who comes into conflict with Solomon.
- Arch-Enemy: To Solomon Vandy.
- The Corrupter: He brainwashes young children into becoming Child Soldiers.
- Eye Scream: Early on, Poison loses one of his eyes.
- Freudian Excuse: It's only alluded to, by Poison himself.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Appears to treat Dia Vandy with kindness occasionally but this is undermined by the fact that he is giving him drugs and training him to be a killer, with the implicit idea that this is being done as revenge against Dia's father Solomon. Also as director Edward Zwick notes in the commentary there is a sexual undercurrent in the way he touches Dia which suggests that Poison may be grooming or abusing him.
- Karmic Death: Ends up getting beaten to death by the man whose son he kidnapped, with the same shovel he forced him to dig with.
- Scary Black Man: A violent leader of the RUF.
van de Kaap
Rudolf van de Kaap
Played By: Marius Weyers
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Of his company.
- Greater-Scope Villain: His corrupt and unethical dealings drive the film's plot, but he's only seen briefly in the opening and again during the ending.
