Directed by:
Tony ScottScreenplay:
Brian HelgelandCinematography:
Paul CameronComposer:
Harry Gregson-WilliamsCast:
Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Radha Mitchell, Christopher Walken, Marc Anthony, Giancarlo Giannini, Mickey Rourke, Rachel Ticotin, Roberto Sosa (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
Jaded former CIA agent John Creasy (Denzel Washington) is hired by a wealthy Mexican family to act as bodyguard to their ten-year-old daughter Lupita (Dakota Fanning). Initially reluctant to take on such a lowly position, Creasy becomes increasingly fond of his charge as she asks him questions and he begins to open up to her and discover a tenderness long missing from his life. But his newfound equilibrium is shattered when the girl is kidnapped, and he vows to find the men responsible and bring them to his own form of rough justice. (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (9)
Tony Scott scored a bullseye with me again. Man On Fire is a perfectly made action thriller with no shortage of deep emotions and perfect action, all framed in Tony’s classic “epileptic" style. The screenplay is also pretty well written and the actors, headed by Denzel Washington, have something to say. For action and Tony fans, just superb.
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*** Spoilers! *** Tony, you’re a good action director, but you don’t have what it takes for a rousing story about a man’s redemption with Lisa Gerrard’s (suspiciously familiar) vocals. At least not for such a subject in an eccentric pop guise. You fail completely in the dramatic construction of the story. You make me emotional in the first half, make me fall in love with the little heroine, and then you want me to feel catharsis during the elimination of her killers without shedding a single tear for her. Your protagonist takes revenge not to rescue her, but for the same reasons that Van Damme administered scissors kicks back in the eighties. The second half of Man on Fire thus becomes just a dull action flick with no dramatic connection to the preceding plot. The “surprising” point is then just the final nail in the muddled coffin. Besides Denzel Washington and couple of music-video-style sequences, Man on Fire has one big positive – Dakota Fanning.
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Tony Scott is back in form at last. He didn’t hesitate to incorporate epileptic editing, violence and outstanding actors into a raw story about a girl being kidnapped. With a different cast, this might have collapsed like a house of cards, but when the main protagonist is played by Denzel Washington as a devotee of the “dark side", this clearly leaves no room for any humor. Especially when revenge tastes best when it’s cold blooded, isn’t that right?
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In order for someone to really like this movie, they probably have to be a fan of Tony Scott in the first place. It has dynamic directing, sharp and lively cinematography, fast editing, blending of colors, and many other directorial tricks that the fans will enjoy, and basically it doesn't matter what the plot is about.
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Classic American Rambo revenge morality covered with the skin of a top techno-thriller form. The lemonade motif of the pursuit of justice and the pursuit of the last shudder of love in the soul of the bestial good guy didn't really irritate me, because Denzel Washington, the killer with a human face is good, and Scott even serves the loving relationship with little Pita in a tolerable way. The dumb content is clearly overridden by a selective form, a high-tech camera, perfect editing, and a clip-like incorporation of a musical undertone. Maybe if the story didn’t take itself so deadly seriously and some of the really forgettable dialogues were left out, Man on Fire would have been a very good, low-value film. Especially thanks to the directing and technical implementation, I was quite interested in the story, but I was definitely not satisfied. There's something infantile stupid about it, and Tony Scott can pull any sort of fat rabbits out of his hat, but this fact can't be disguised. A stupid action film in a selective guise with good acting.
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