Man On Fire [2004] [DVD]

Tony Scott the man behind such high concept fluff as "Top Gun" directs another revenge flick with Man on Fire. The portents are not good then. Yet this is a mature restrained movie in many ways. Yes it is occasionally very violent but it eschews the flying bullet and pithy one liner approach usually associated with this genre for something far more cool and calculating.
John Creacy (Denzel Washington) is a former C.I.A. assassin with a dose of the moochies and a severe drink problem. He heads down to Mexico to hook up with a former fellow operative Rayburn (Walken) who in an effort to put Creacy on the straight and narrow hooks him up with Samuel (Marc Anthony), a Mexican aristocrat who in light of Mexico's appalling Kidnap culture needs a full time bodyguard for his precocious daughter Pita played with naturalistic verve by Dakota Fanning. At first Creacys relationship with his young charge and her wary mother Lisa (Rahda Mitchell) is terse but time is taken to allow their relationships to develop in a believable manner and so his genuine anger and sense of grief is palpable when she is snatched from under his nose. The pay off is a disaster so Creacy , despite his hospitalisation from gun shot wounds vows to make the kidnappers pay both for the girl and his own curtailed sense of humanity. As Rayburn says "Creacys art is death, he's about to paint his masterpiece".
Washington is superb as he prowls the city picking up one lead after another and extracting information in a series of grisly torture scenes. He radiates a sense of implacable purpose though you have to say he sticks out like a polar bear wearing deely boppers in the city scenes. Not exactly low key. Creacy receives help from an Investigator and journalist and they help him identify the head of the Kidnap ring as a man known only as "The Voice" which I thought was an Ultravox song., but then I never worked for the C.I.A. There is a minor plot twist here that you can see coming a mile off, a bit like Washington actually, but the ending has a neat less than clichéd ambiguity that shows us that violence can achieve some moral resolutions but always at a price.
Creacys totalitarian mission is very old school. Note the leading characters initials are J.C. The difference here of course is that the cause is a just one and I defy any parent to deny that they would wish this form of brutal retribution on anyone who harmed their children.
Washington's effortless gravitas, some excellent support and superb production values make this a compelling movie. It's slightly overlong (Nearly 21/2 hours) and some of the editing is that irritating fast cut twitchy variety which in this long a movie is pushing it but overall this a superior example of the genre ,in my view far more worthy of attention than the excessive and stylised "Kill Bill". Man on fire is no flash in the pan but a genuine slow burner.

and what a movie this is!!! Not quite sure what the critics saw but this is definitely one of the best revenge flicks, if not the best revenge flick EVER made!!!! The movie starts off with bodyguard Denzel 'Creasy' Washington assigned to protect little Dakota Fanning (brilliant actress) from kidnapping. The first half of the movie is pretty light hearted, but half way through, Pita (Fanning) gets kidnapped and the movie slips into a pretty sadistic raw violence mode as Creasy turns to avenge Pitas 'killers' which might not be easy to digest for some viewers. Nevertheless, if you're a fan of any type of thriller or a fan of Denzel Washington, who actually tops his performance here from Training Day, then this is a MUST!!! There's also a fine supporting role from Christopher Walken who's very good as Creasy's friend. Buy this dvd now...you won't be dissapointed!!! The extras dont dissapoint either: There's over 30mins of fairly good deleted scenes, 70 minute 'vengence' documentary exploring all the aspects of the making of the movie, plus a couple of decent trailers, and a music video.

I always dissmissed Tony Scott as holding onto his brother Ridley's tail to get into the film industry - he even lights exactly the same as Ridley.

Then I watched Man on Fire and my ill-informed prejuduice subsided and I saw someone create something slick and stylish and very accomplished. The acting is great and he uses the camera speed, editing, music and even subtitles with the right balance.

The fact that his latest Domino has been panned, perhaps Scott cannot replicate his fine judgement on this film. So it surely must be up there with True Romance as his best film.