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Man on Fire

Starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland
Based on the novel by A. J. Quinnell
Directed by Tony Scott
website: www.manonfiremovie.com

IN SHORT: a ponderous start undermines a gripping back half. [Rated R for language and strong violence. 150 minutes]

Those would be auteurs who want to do a Ph.D paper on the art of adaptation should seek out the 1987 Scott Glenn starrer of the same title. We don't compare to Source Material and we're not about to compare to an old film based in a different setting. You may feel free to do so on the message boards.

One thing we appreciate in any film is linear storytelling. A story starts at Point A, moves through Point B and culminates in Point C. Even stories told via flashback work if they stick to this formula. Director Tony Scott toes the line with Man On Fire, but his slow as a snail pace undermines this story of kidnap and revenge.

We begin with two of our favorite actors, Christopher Walken and Denzel Washington as ex-mercenary killers for hire. We're guessing about this. They did 16 years of things they know "God won't forgive" them for, so you know it was pretty bad. Rayburn (Walken) found love and settled in Mexico, where he can live like a king. Washington's character, Creasy, is moving into the private sector along with friends Jack and Linda -- Daniels and Ronstadt. An alcoholic with a preference for "Blue Bayou" -- three plays in two hours is more than enough, thank you very much -- Creasy has taken a gig as bodyguard for the youthful Pinta (Dakota Fanning) whose father (Marc Anthony) is continuing the family business (something to do with a factory but nothing to do with drugs) which generated the family fortune. Mommy (Radha Mitchell) is a blonde American and the kidlet got her looks and personality. The setting is Mexico City, a place where the rich live behind barricades and kidnapping is a growth industry.

Creasy's only job is to keep the kidlet safe from the pro kidnapers. Creasy got the job because he's working cheap. While Pinta is determined to make Creasy her friend, Creasy is just as determined not to go that route. Even with the alcoholic monkey on is back, the man keeps his eyes wide open and manages to shuttle his charge back and forth to an equally protected Catholic school. The pace is deceiving -- step out for popcorn early on and you'll miss seemingly minor details that will aid the story later on. Sit through all the stuff to get those minor points will have you shifting in your seat, but that's the price you pay when a director is more interested in the type font and placement of the subtitles than with moving his story towards his point.

Film students will be able to generate sale-able term papers on the auteurism of subtitle fonts and placement based on this film alone. Ditto Scott's use of slow motion and ultra-closeup imagery. Our acting/ film school training was of the school "if you distract from telling the story, you are adding needless crap to the performance." We stand by that. Scott's subtitle nonsense is, unfortunately, one of the few things that kept us awake as the main character relationships were being developed. That's a shame because the chemistry between Washington and Fanning takes no time whatsoever to generate and it is palpable. It's too bad director Tony Scott didn't trim an excess of bonding sequences early on in the film, to speed the way to The Chase. Face it folks, we all go to movies like Man on Fire to see a good hunt and an exciting chase.

And that's what you eventually get. A kid who has had the potential kidnap scenario so drummed into her head that she notes license plate numbers in her daily is taken. Her body guard manages to tick off the entirety of the Mexican police and politico force when he takes out all but one kidnaper in the eventual attack. We're still in the second act at this point and we'll stop because the film delivers certain unexpected twists that we're not going to spoil. The back end of Man on Fire is as exciting and suspenseful a piece of film making as you can get, teaming a leaking at the seams hero with the investigative work of a reporter (Rachel Ticotin) who befriends him. If nothing else, endure the front end because the payoff is worth it.

On average, a first run movie ticket will run you Ten Bucks. Were Cranky able to set his own price to Man on Fire, he would have paid . . .

$5.00

take a date. endure and enjoy and note how a mere ten minutes or so of cuts would have made this film a classic for all time.

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The Cranky Critic® is a Registered Trademark of, and his website is Copyright © 1995-2008 by, Chuck Schwartz. Articles by Paul Fischer Copyright © 1999 - 2006 Paul Fischer. All images, unless otherwise noted, are property of,©, ®, T their respective studios and are used by permission. All Rights Reserved. Not to be used or copied for any commercial purpose. Academy AwardT(s) and Oscar®(s) are registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.