Man On Fire [2004] [DVD]

Washington plays Creasy, a former C.I.A. assassin who drinks because he cannot find forgiveness for his past sins. He shows up in Mexico to see Rayburn (Christopher Walken), an old military buddy, who agrees with the idea that God will never forgive them for what they have done, and who gets him a gig as a bodyguard. It seems that south of the border there is one kidnapping an hour by gangsters seeking to extort money. We are given a graphic example of how the practice works at the start of the movie and told that 70% of kidnapped victims are killed. Because he has a drinking problem Creasy is available at a cut rate, but his anti-terrorism experience makes him a good value.

The body Creasy is guarding belongs to young Pita (Dakota Fanning), the daughter of Samuel (Marc Anthony) and his American bride Lisa (Radha Mitchell), which explains the little blonde girl with a Mexican name. She is cute and smart (it is Dakota Fanning; what were you expecting?), and insists on forming a friendship with her bodyguard. Creasy resists, primarily for the practical concerns of being better able to protect her if they are not chatting about everything under the sun while he is driving her to and from school or piano lessons. But she wears him down and he clearly becomes a father figure her, using his Marine Corps experience to teach her how to get off to a good start in her swimming races and suggesting a way of getting out of future piano lessons. Of course, she is kidnapped just as their bond is strongest, mainly because she refuses to leave her friend behind when he is being shot to pieces in a gunfight.

The kidnappers make two mistakes. The first and most obvious one is that they do not kill Creasy, because he vows to kill all of them. The second is that the kidnappers never change the license plate on one of their cars. Creasy and Pita see it tailing them earlier in the film and it appears again during the kidnapping. My first thought was that they were stupid and did not understand how to be smart about such things. But then I thought that maybe there was an element of arrogance to their actions. After all, they have some of the judicial police in their pockets and to these thugs this is just another day at the office. That is it was until they took Pita away from Creasy.

Creasy displays a ruthless efficiency as he tracks down "the Voice," the man who gave the ransom instructions over the phone and is behind Pita's kidnapping. His interrogation technique will make you grateful for the excesses of stylistic editing but each one does get him closer and closer to his goal. Creasy has a newspaper reporter (Rachel Ticotin) and an honest police official (Giancarlo Giannini) providing help in connecting the dots and getting him closer to his target. As Rayburn tells the cop: "A man can be an artist in anything...Ceasey's art is death, and he's about to paint his masterpiece. Stay out of his way." Unfortunately besides that burst of eloquence Rayburn tends to lay it on a bit thick, declaring Creasy will "deliver more justice in a weekend than ten years of your courts and tribunals" and the grand overstatement "Creasy's gonna make them wish they hadn't touched one hair on her head."

One thing I liked about "Man on Fire" was that when Creasy leaves the hospital to go track down the kidnappers he is still recovering from his wounds, which keep bleeding throughout the last act of the film. I also liked that while the thought of Pita would stay his hand from killing one particular person, he was still able to ensure that person died as they deserved. Those who are expecting this film to have a happy ending are going to have to rethink what a happy ending might be under the circumstances here. Even with all of the bangs in this one the film is going to end with more of a whimper. The idea of finding redemption through a blood bath mind seem strange, but Washington's powerful performance carries the logic of the film, even thought the director's bag of tricks often gets in the way.

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