Man On Fire

"Last wish? I wish... you had... more time!" (4.5 stars)
"Man On Fire" is an intense action thriller that takes you through hell and back. This is not a "happy" movie, and it's not pretty. It's extremely violent at times and the storyline is a reflection of a parent's worst nightmare--the kidnapping and possible murder of their child. While it can be over-stylish at times with fancy editing and camera work, it proves to be a more than effective thriller.

John Creasy used to work for the CIA, but now he's an alcoholic who doesn't think there's much to live for. This is due to the terrible things he has done in his line of work (we never know exactly what he did, but there are more than enough hints). Starting a new life in Mexico, his best friend finds him a job as a bodyguard to a nine-year-old girl since the family is worried about all of the kidnappings that have taken place in Mexico. The girl, Pita, takes a liking to Creasy right away, but he doesn't allow her in and treats her as nothing more than a job. Amazingly, he...

Enter the world of Creasy a man about to redeem his soul...
This is a dark, clever and very surreal kind of movie. I wasn't sure what to expect when I got the chance to see a preview of it at a UK movie theatre this week.

It starts off as it means to go on, with the kidnapping of a teenage boy, his torture by his kidnappers, the payment of the ransom by his family and his release, a broken shell of the happy go lucky youth he used to be.

It is after this introduction we meet Creasy, played to perfection by the actor Denzel Washington. He is the tormented killer-come-bodyguard who is slowly drinking himself to death, a man who has forgotten how to live for as his friend Rayburn, the glorious Christopher Walken points out to a Police Officer, "Creasy is a man who has made an art out of killing..."

Dakota Fanning gives an excellent performance as Pita, the half Mexican, half American child who gets under Creasy's skin and into his heart and teaches him that it is okay to care and love another person...

Denzel does Rambo with an attitude
American audiences love their Silver Screen heroes that wreak vengeance on the Bad Guys. In MAN ON FIRE, Denzel Washington makes Stallone's Rambo and Eastwood's Dirty Harry look like altar boys. I don't recall either of the latter two lopping off fingers.

Washington is Creasy, who, haunted by his past as a counter-insurgency assassin employed by the U.S. government, drinks to excess and contemplates suicide. On a social call to a pal from the old days, Rayburn (Christopher Walken), Creasy rhetorically asks, "Do you think God will forgive us for what we've done?" Rayburn, now living the good life in Juarez, Mexico, would like to see Creasy pull out of his self-destructive funk. So, he puts his friend in touch with Mexican businessman Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony), who lives with his American wife Lisa (Radha Mitchell) and daughter Pita (Dakota Fanning) in Mexico City, where kidnapping offspring of the rich and famous is a growth industry. Samuel and Lisa are in the market for...

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