Man on Fire Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)March 31st, 2005
MAN ON FIRE
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: A guilt-ridden but very deadly assassin
drops his defenses to love the little girl he
has been hired to guard. When she is kidnapped
he returns to the violence that he knows best.
Denzel Washington brings to the screen one more
portrait of a bloodthirsty, unstoppable avenger
with no bounds. And isn't that an
accomplishment! Visually the film is nice, but
the images are in service to a violent and ugly
film. Rating: 0 (-4 to +4) or 4/10. Warning:
Minor spoilers that would have been obvious
from the film's trailer.
Denzel Washington plays Creasy, an alcoholic, burned-out assassin ridden by guilt who yearns for death. He asks a retired associate (Christopher Walken), "Do you think God will forgive us for what we've done?" With a moment of thought the response is "No." I mean these guys have been really, really bad men. Get the picture? These are the kind of guys who like to sit around and drink and savor the wisdom of sayings like "A bullet always tells the truth. It never lies." Ain't it the truth?
But Creasy takes a job in Mexico City guarding the totally delightful child with the totally delightful nickname Pita (short for Lupita). The totally delightful Dakota Fanning plays the totally delightful Pita who melts Creasy's heart, getting him to drop his emotional defenses. They love each other as much as a totally delightful little girl and her super-ruthless, guilt- ridden, hired-killer bodyguard can. Then the totally delightful little girl is kidnapped. Creasy goes into overdrive at being super-ruthless to try to get the totally delightful Pita back.
Once Pita is kidnapped the film becomes sort of a minimal detective story. Creasy seems to know all the right questions for the bad guys that he tortures so that he is able to get closer and closer to the real bad guys. (Just who do you think is at the center of the plot?) To underscore the tough-guy talk, Scott prints it on the screen in titles sometimes in large font sometimes in the middle of the screen. The script does not give us much time to get to know the bad men. Once Creasy finds out who they are they are not around for long. Creasy himself is shot several times, but the will to do the right thing keeps him going. He cleanses himself by floating in Pita's swimming pool as his blood colors the water. As he gets closer to the bad guys we get many of the standard surprises much telegraphed.
The photography is actually quite good. The film is shot in a moody color palate, much the same palate as we saw in THE GODFATHER. It also gives the film a nice Mexican mood. This is the kind of film in which you wish the cinematographers, in this case Paul Cameron and César Charlone, could have fired director Tony Scott and scriptwriter Brian Helgeland (MYSTIC RIVER?). Helgeland's script takes better (or worse) than an hour developing Creasy and Pita's character but only makes them more of the cliches that they are. It also introduces us to characters that will be important later in the story. You can pick out the villains because they are the people who are less attractive.
In spite of suggestions that this film is really about the affection that Creasy feels toward Pita, it is just a violent, mean-spirited Western with cliched characters. Washington seems to have gotten away from playing role models, but the irony is that this is one film in which his character really will be imitated. Gang kids who idolize SCARFACE's Tony Montana have another nasty S.O.B. they can use for inspiration. The mood of MAN ON FIRE is a lot better than the plot. I give MAN ON FIRE a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale or 4/10. If you want an honest and real film about crime, go further south for CITY OF GOD, set in the slums of Brazil.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net Copyright 2005 Mark R. Leeper
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
