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Denzel is 'Man on
Fire'
By Will Farnham
and Cheryl Heitzman
Collegian Reviewers
Heitzman: Man on Fire
is yet another movie about revenge. Denzel Washington plays
the part of Creasy, a man who used to work the anti-terrorism
beat, who gets a job protecting Pita (Dakota Fanning). Pita
is the daughter of an American, Lisa (Radha Mitchell), and Samuel
(Marc Anthony), a struggling businessman living in Mexico City.
Creasy led a life he thinks is so dishonorable, it's unforgivable.
His buddy, and former partner we can assume, Rayburn (Christopher
Walken) got Creasy the job protecting Pita to help him get on
his feet again. Creasy is an alcoholic, a stoic, and downright
mean to Pita at first, but following a life-altering event,
everything changes.
Farnham: This leads us to the first of many
problems with the film. Yes, Creasy is an alcoholic. Yes, it
can have an effect on his ability to perform. If we didn't know
this intuitively, we could have figured it out from his dialogue
with Samuel: "I drink." We don't need endless shots
of Creasy pouring himself yet another glass of Jack. He's an
alcoholic, it slows him down, we get it, now please move on.
Heitzman: Creasy then becomes friends with
Pita, and their relationship is so believable that I cried when
she was kidnapped. It was touching when Creasy became her swimming
coach, and again, a little emotional when she jumps into his
arms after a race. Fanning did a superb job as Pita. She is
a prodigy, and after the disappointing Uptown Girls, this movie
is testament to the future of the 10-year-old actress.
Farnham: The dynamic between Creasy and Pita
was, indeed, memorable. Pita is quite mature for her age and
manages to charm Creasy quite easily, but believably. The influence
that the young girl has on her bodyguard, and he on her, is
endearing and entertaining. I've not seen any of Fanning's previous
work, but I did think at several points that she almost certainly
has a substantial career in her future.
Heitzman: After extenuating circumstances
screw up the ransom drop, the kidnappers kill Pita. This makes
Creasy mad. So mad, he goes out and buys every type of gun one
can imagine, including a small rocket launcher. Determined to
kill everyone who profited from the kidnapping, he relies on
the help of journalist Mariana (Rachel Ticotin) to find everyone
involved.
Farnham: Another of the film's greatest weaknesses
is that it is not sure of its own identity. Is it a drama? Well,
maybe. Is it action? Well, kind of. Since it's not clear, it
ends up somewhere in the middle, playing on one's emotions while
still blowing out brains and hacking off fingers. The subsequent
revenge initially had the feeling of Rocco in The Boondock Saints'
classic line, "We could kill everyone!" but soon became
mired in its own gravity. While knowing the connections that
each of these men has to the kidnapping is intriguing, do we
really need an eight-minute interrogation scene for each one?
Heitzman: But just when you think there is
no one else to kill, there's more. The movie goes on for 147
minutes like this. But it was not boring for one minute. I thoroughly
enjoyed the plot twists, as predictable as they may have been,
but the end was a little disappointing.
Farnham: This is where I most disagree. I
was bored out of my skull. I thought it could have been at least
half an hour shorter. This might have been easily achieved had
director Tony Scott not felt it necessary to give us flashbacks
to parts of the movie we'd already seen every 30 seconds. Sure,
it's all part of his "directorial vision," but maybe
he needs to go to the optometrist. That, or start shooting videos
for MTV. The constant cuts, spinning dialogue shots, grainy
filters and repetition would all probably play pretty well there.
Heitzman: The friendship struck between Pita
and Creasy is it in this movie. If the friendship had not been
so cute, funny and believable, the rest of it would have been
awful. Washington is up to his usual standards and created a
lovable, believable character.
This film does have some problems. There's just no way Creasy
could have strutted around Mexico City like he did and lived;
plus, he runs around with a gunshot wound through his right
lung for the last 45 minutes…I just don't think so. Some
of the death scenes are pretty gruesome, so if you didn't like
Kill Bill Vol. 1, don't bother with this one. This one gets
four out of five shiny stars.
Farnham: Maybe Tony Scott should have
quit after Spy Game. This film was far too long, far too predictable
and visually far too hard to watch. It's sad when what one finds
most memorable about a film is the song that plays during the
closing titles, and what makes it stand out is that you recognized
it from the end of Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu's
The Powder Keg, a short film you saw two years ago. Man on Fire
gets no more than two Newcastles.
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the Collegian @ the Movies
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(out of five)
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Will Farnham |
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Cheryl Heitzman
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Photo courtesy of 20th Century
Fox
Denzel
Washington plays the bodyguard of Dakota Fanning in Man
on Fire.
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