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Man on Fire
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Denzel Washington, Christopher
Walken, Dakota Fanning |
| MPAA Rated: |
R |
| Released By: |
20th Century Fox |
| Web Site: |
www.manonfiremovie.com |
| Kiddie Movie: |
For goodness sake, leave the little ones at home. |
| Date Movie: |
She might get
frightened and hold your hand. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Radha Mitchell
wears some slinky clothes, but the sex is lacking. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Lots and lots of
it. |
| Action: |
Some people run
and get chased. |
| Laughs: |
A good chuckle or
two. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
Creasy chopping
off fingers to get information. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
Creasy to bad guy:
"That's what you have up your ass right now." |
| Directed By: |
Tony Scott |
| Produced By: |
Lucas Foster, Arnon Milchan, Tony Scott |
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Man on Fire
A Movie Review |
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I wish I were a bigger man. Alright, I’m pretty big
now, but I wish I were better built, kinda like a football player,
because then I might have had the guts to ask the guy who sat next to
me what in the hell he was doing bringing his 5ish year old daughter
to see "Man on Fire." Sometimes the rating people are right, and
usually, if a movie is rated "R" for only for two things – language
and strong violence – you can bet the language is really bad and the
strong violence is really strong. That being said, it didn’t surprise
me that by the end of the movie the little girl was in tears, shading
her eyes, and probably headed for some wonderful nightmares in the
coming days. I’m wonder if mom knew. Anyway, enough of my
shortcomings, what about the movie? I loved it except for the ending
and the artsy shots that were really unnecessary.For this movie we
get the very talented Denzel Washington playing John Creasy. He’s a
former government agent whose specialty was killing people. He had a
friend while with the government, Rayburn, craftily played by
Christopher Walken. Pretty much a drunk now, Rayburn suggests that
Creasy work as a bodyguard for Samuel Ramos’ (Marc Anthony) kid, Pita
(Dakota Fanning). It seems lots of kids are being kidnapped in Mexico
City, mostly the kids of rich folks, with the mob/gangs snatching them
up for an easy payday. Creasy is distant and really doesn’t want the
gig, but Rayburn convinces him it might be a good thing. Pita is a
firecracker, thinks the best of everyone, and works to break the wall
that Creasy has built around him. Guess what? Of course, she does. So
now Creasy is feeling a little bit better about life, when, low and
behold, Pita is kidnapped, Creasy is shot multiple times, and while
lying in the hospital, the money transfer goes bad and the bad men say
they are killing Pita.
So, Creasy wakes up, Rayburn helps him out, and in a miraculous
recovery time he is out seeking revenge on the people who took Pita.
Now the strong violence kicks in, like a great scene where Creasy
starts chopping of the fingers, one by one, and cauterizing the wound
with a car cigarette light, of one of the bad guys as Creasy is trying
to get information. And so, Creasy works his way up the bad guy
ladder, taking them out one by one, as well as causing other harm and
mayhem.
I’ll leave the story at that because there are some twists, maybe a
little obvious, but twists nonetheless, that are interesting in the
end.
Sometimes Denzel is good, sometimes bad, and this time he is great.
Join him with the adorable Dakota Fanning and the always great
Christopher Walken, and this film should be a knockout, and it pretty
much was, except I didn’t like the ending – it was too nice.
So if you’re looking for an over-the-top revenge flick, this is as
good as any. You get some gratuitous violence, Radha Mitchell (she
plays Samuel’s wife) in some slinky clothing, and you’ll probably like
the connection between Creasy and Pita. The only problems I had were
the movie was too long, clocking in at almost two and half hours and
the ending was too nice. The length problem could have been
eliminated by getting rid of all of the artsy shots which I usually
find unnecessary in any decent action flick, and the ending problem
could have been fixed by making it a little more like something you
would find in "The Sopranos" rather than the way they wrapped this
movie. In any case, though, leave your five year old daughter at
home.
I’ll give "Man on Fire" 3 1/2 stars out of 5. It loses a star for
simply being to nice at the end and 1/2 star for being too long.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!! |
