Man On Fire (2004) Movie Review

In continuance of the recent entourage of revenge-themed films filing into theaters, 20th Century Fox now unveils Tony Scott’s ultra-violent Man on Fire. Granted Kill Bill, Vol. 2 was a character driven and homage-focused masterpiece, Walking Tall was merely a vehicle for The Rock, and The Punisher was just a pitiful comic book adaptation. Now, with Man on Fire, which is nowhere in the vicinity of Kill Bill, Vol. 2, but more flashy and stylish than the other two recent revenge films. However, clocking in at nearly two and half-hours, the film is too long and is incredibly sadistic, cynical, and grotesque.

The story takes place in Mexico City, where in the last six days there have been 24 kidnappings. With troubling concern, rich industrialist Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony) and his American wife (Phone Booth’s Radha Mitchell) enlist the services of John Creasy (Denzel Washington) to be the bodyguard of their young daughter Pita (The Cat in the Hat’s Dakota Fanning). Creasy is an ex-CIA assassin that has really just come to Mexico to visit his old CIA buddy Rayburn (Christopher Walken), but before he knows it he is hired to protect Pita. With practically a Bible in one hand and a bottle of Jack Daniels in the other, Creasy is a lost soul trying to find his way. Pita herself is a bright young lady that hampers Creasy with question and after question about everything. Just wanting to do his job, Creasy can not help but let Pita’s sweetness grow on him. With her father and mother away continuously, Creasy becomes her father figure by aiding her in swimming and history among other things. The young child gives her distraught protector a reason to live. However, after Pita is kidnapped and he is left for dead, Creasy turns into a vengeful presence that will not stop until everyone involved in the kidnapping is killed. The second half of the film becomes ultimately brutal, after the tender feeling that Creasy just begins to experience is quickly snatch away from him.

The first half of this film is sweet, and one perceives the vengeance of Creasy coming after Pita is abducted, but his actions are so raw and ritualistic that the film becomes a harsh thread of vigilante-ism and sadism. It becomes hard at times to take in his actions, though the circumstances and his anger is evident. Creasy hacks off fingers, blows away limbs, and even shoves a half of pint of C4 of into a character’s rectum to gain any information about the kidnappers. He is not just murdering this people; he is torturing, humiliating them, and more than anything feeling his wrath.

Great action director Tony Scott does not hold back at all with this film’s savageness. His numerous camera shots and editing is so choppy and quick that it will give you a headache. Scott loves to use four to five different camera angles for a shot, and then he blends them all together to deliver the scene. Being an editor for this director must be a nightmare. He also focuses his shots in and out, as well as combing tones and transparencies to create a murky, more edgy look in certain scenes. The action sequences are well orchestrated and the emotions are apparent, but his camera twirling at times becomes annoying. The action is also typical Tony Scott, in which he gives Creasy many things to blow up, including destroying a vehicle with a bazooka and sending a nightclub in to explosive flames. The subtitles in this film are unlike any that have ever donned the screen. Of course with the ample amount of Spanish spoken, subtitles are used throughout the film. Scott flashes the dialogue up in at times various fonts quickly and spastically with swipes and disappearances. There are also moments with the dialogue is placed in all caps, as for Creasy or whoever is speaking to get their point across. However, it becomes absurd and ineffective when the actors are speaking in English and Scott shoots up the line of dialogue just to hammer home a point.

Brian Helgeland adapted the screenplay from the novel by A.J. Quinnell. Helgeland is a terrific writer, who won an Oscar for co-writing L.A. Confidential and also wrote the script for last year’s Mystic River. There are numerous parts of the story that could have been explained more, which mostly revolve around the film’s twists and secrets. Creasy himself is established quickly as a drunk, and it seems that there was one scene too many of him grabbing the bottle, rather than focusing in on what precise inner demons brought him to alcoholism. Many of the characters are underdeveloped, but this is due to the immense amount of supporting roles in this film. There are also a few subplots that really do not click, but the central factor is of course revenge and love. The love element between Creasy and Pita is believable, but Creasy’s aggressive acts does make your feelings for him slip away.

Denzel Washington is fiercely commanding in his dark role of John Creasy. Washington tone is so cold and calm as Creasy, that he is also eerie. Young Dakota Fanning is absolutely irresistible as Pita, though her delivery is reminiscent of her past work; she is still an adorable joy to watch. As Creasy’s close friend, Christopher Walken is stellar as Rayburn and Radha Mitchell does admirable work in her role as Pita’s mother, Lisa Ramos. Rounding out the cast are singer Marc Anthony, who is moderate as Pita’s rich father and Mickey Rourke, who delivers his usual tactics as a shady supporting character.

Besides being too long and too choppy, Man on Fire is also too sadistic to be recommendable. Though Washington and Fanning are terrific and feelings are made for their relationship in the first half of the film, the violence and barbaric actions in the second half of the film turn this more into a exploitative blood bath rather than a love story of a young girl changing the dark heart of a man who killed as a profession. If you want to see a film of this nature, Luc Besson’s The Professional is a better choice.