Man on Fire

MAN ON FIRE is a thrilling, unapologetic, two-part action film from Tony Scott, who blossomed into a great director at the dawn of the 21st century. MAN ON FIRE, while not reaching the brilliance and balance of UNSTOPPABLE or DEJA VU, at least hints at the brilliance to come. MAN ON FIRE centers around a quasi-true story of a bodyguard who tracks down the kidnappers and thus, kidnapping rings, in Mexico. Intentionally or not, a very Christian theme seeps into the movie when, in the first part of the film, Creasy (Denzel Washington) the bodyguard attempts to shoot himself and the bullet fails. Taking this as a sign that he's meant to do something, Creasy stays on his current, throwaway job for a man of his skills, and befriends the girl he's looking after, Pita (Dakota Fanning). Living only for this connection, Creasy is devastated when she is kidnapped and killed in a following ransom-deal gone wrong. Committed to killing everyone involved, and seeing that action as the reason the bullet didn't kill him from earlier, Creasy goes around Mexico shooting up places because he has nothing to lose. Scott's camera tricks, lighting, and pace come into great use here in contrast to the first part of the film which develops the characters more than any generic action film. There's some real contradiction, though, in the second half, which does the movie good, and makes for kinetic fun. The last scene, especially, is well staged and finely executed by melding all of the things that worked about the film from earlier into a few shots. MAN ON FIRE has its flaws, like why the unstoppable Creasy of the second half of the film was unable to save Pita in the first half, or a couple of too-over-the-top sequences that actually burden the film, but overall these flaws pale in front of the film's strengths. Also, the film has been attacked for the sadistic nature of a seemingly human character in the second half, but I would argue that Creasy's sadism is very human and the reaction any father would have to the kidnapping and killing of their daughter. As we learn in the film too, that's the relationship the two have. This is great fun, and occasionally emotionally powerful.
Man on Fire: ★★★1/2