Director/producer Tony Scott knows
how to combine acting talent with visual flair (as is evidenced by earlier films like Spy
Game, Enemy of the State, Crimson Tide and Top Gun). But in
Man on Fire, those two elements are not enough to counteract a weak plot. Man’s
main character is John Creasy (Denzel Washington), an ex-CIA operative/assassin
who feels so guilty about his past that he constantly dulls the pain with alcohol. A friend
(Christopher Walken) talks him into moving to Mexico City to be a bodyguard
to nine-year-old Pita Ramos (Dakota Fanning), daughter of a wealthy industrialist.
Pita needs a bodyguard because of a wave of kidnappings sweeping Mexico City – 24 abductions
in one six-day period. Pita proves a handful but her genuine concern for Creasy eventually
breaks through the walls he has built around himself, which makes it that much worse when
the inevitable finally happens.
There are a lot of things to like about Man:
the story idea is compelling, the acting is quite good (especially from Fanning and Walken),
and the visuals are interesting and do a good job of conveying the surging emotions Creasy
feels. But there are also some major downsides to the film, most evident being the film’s
length (too long at 2 hours and 25 minutes), its obvious division into two halves (the first
all-drama and the second all-action), and the many plot holes. Also, while Washington is
always fun to watch, he is given little room for depth in this role. Overall, the film starts
out promisingly, but once Creasy turns into the “man on fire” in the second
half, it descends into a run-of-the-mill, over-the-top revenge flick.
|
