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A great movie

This movie had only 1 "cringe" moment, and that is when Lisa (the wife) says to Samuel (the husband) she founds out has been involved "I love you! Tell me the truth!" That "I love you!" is so out of place it is unbelievable. Whoever I watched the movie with (and I watched it 3 times in different company) ALL cringed about that.About the end - Creasy feels that he is dying from his wounds (current and unhealed previous ones) so that is probably why he agrees to give himself up (also maybe to die in an act of redemption). The only thing that he could have done is plant a bomb on himself in the same way he executed Fuentes, and take a few of the bad guys with him (now that would be likely for his mentality IMHO).All things considered, this movie is pretty great - I gave it a 9/10 overall. It is hard to escape the conclusion that Creasy's way of handling the "proffesional" criminals is the only efficient way to do it."He will deliver more justice in 1 weekend than your courts in 10 years."

"Revenge is a dish best served cold."

Revenge is a word most of us are all-too familiar with. Rarely do I comment on movies, but today -- as I compose this message at 2:30AM -- I feel compelled to do so. Judging the proverbial book by its cover, one might suspect "Man On Fire" is a movie based solely on personal revenge. This particular movie, however, is a far-cry from such. Throughout the movie, there is much more to learn (or, for some of us, to be reminded of): 100% selfless acts of kindness, acts of pure love. Once you check out this movie, you'll surely realize the devotion that the main character (played by Denzel Washington) has for his young companion. Regardless of pain or suffering, and without personal gain, "Creasy" takes on battles with enemies, once-friends, and even himself in order to not let the death of his friend lie in vain.During and after watching this movie, I have the overwhelming sensation of cold loss paired with the warmth of friendship and devotion -- a devotion that eventually led to death. If, for one breathing moment, all of humankind could possess the selfless, endearing characteristic such as this -- this eternal promise to one another -- I truly believe the world would indeed morph into a surrealistic, incredible heaven full of kindness for and acceptance of one another . As movies these days rarely do, "Man On Fire" reminds us all of the sacrifices we must endure, the pains we must withstand to ensure the survival of ourselves and our friends, and the comfort of knowing that -- somewhere, somehow -- somebody is as faithful to us as "Creasy" was to "Pita."That is the brilliance (and the essence) of entertainment.

Pretentious and trite

Denzel is good as always, but this turgid, dull potboiler really is a damp squib. It's overlong, too much information gets repeated ad nauseam (how many times do we have to hear what The Brotherhood is?), the director doesn't play fair (the phony Sixth Sense glimpses of Pita), Dakota Fanning is like no kid I've ever met outside of the movies, and the oh-so-hip hyperkinetic editing and visual trickery straight from today's edgy commercials just induces motion sickness, every plot twist is guessable long before it occurs. Plus a gratuitous downer ending... what less could you ask for? Avoid. Note: the DVD has tons of deleted scenes, including an ending suggested by Denzel which I had also thought of while watching the film. It's much better than the current pseudo-Christlike choice, but it's still nowhere near strong enough to save this film.

Depressing & Overrated In Every Way

The first part is fine as that adorable little actress steals the show. After her abduction, Man on Fire takes a left turn and just goes right down the toilet. I spent the rest of the movie either annoyed or disgusted by the sloppy and irritating cuts and pans. Also, the ending leaves a lot to be desired. Denzel spends a good part of this movie moping around like a sad refugee from a 70s war flick. (drinking and crying) the film is an overblown revenge short story after the first hour spends the time to snap him out of his fog.The next half hour of the film is spent enduring flashes and crazy cuts by the director. SPOILER ......... After, Denzel just passes out and on in the back seat of a car. Yawn. Although, I envied him because I wanted to pass out myself but I wanted it to happen much earlier in the film. It would've made my movie going experience better.

Revenge is ugly.............................................

My Creasy Bear...
People Denzel Washington in an ACTION FILM! HELL YES! He's fighting with himself about the past he's lived, and he's trying to repent, he's drinking, reading the bible, and desperately trying not to love Little Pita, his new reason for living.


This dark tale in Mexico shows us how Creasy goes from being distant, and unattached to apart of the family. At times Pita's main family support.


The love that grows between Creasy, and Pita is so beautiful. We watch as his self hate grows into forgiveness.


As our lovable bodyguard is shot while trying to protect Pita. A new character inches in. Lovable Creasy becomes a Killer. Piecing together the puzzle to the kidnapping he links every single person and holds them ALL PERSONALLY responsible, including Pita's dad.

This is an excellent film, with extraordinary performances, and purpose driven revenge.


A life for a life...This surpassed any job requirements! Did you'll hear "Hey Mickey" in Spanish?

Great Movie!!!!

Great storyline, good acting, great action and really well edited. Altogether this was one heck of a great movie!!!

We need this!

As a citizen of Mexico City, this movie had moved me like no other action movies had. You can have fun with those, but never feel as excited, angry and touched by one, as this one does.To live in this city, to be exposed to everyday kidnaps and robbers and stuff, to be actually IN the movie, to feel like i was watching what I watched the same day on the news, but with a big black guy with a shotgun making justice to all of we who had been related to kidnaps ... this movie its a relief! It's a big explosion of power images we all needed!!!Kidnaps may be one of the worst crimes we're exposed to. And this being the everyday routine by living here is really crappy. It's nonsense. We all feel useless as we are, because this things are happening right now not very far from where I'm typing and we just can't do anything about it. And there's virtually no one making the difference in here. It's very much frustrating. It's quite inspiring to watch Denzel Washington doing all that people what every citizen of this city would like to do to those bastards! We would like to have thousands of big black guys with shotguns cutting out the fingers of every people involved in brutalities like those! We came out of the theatre very excited, very free. Talking a lot about it and about how we need people with courage to do what Creassy does. It's powerful! It's a great action movie but with the plus that gives the feeling of actually hating the bad guys of the movie. Its not like when you see James Bond killing an evil doctor who wants to take over the world or Jean Claude Van Dame kicking his karate opponent's ass. It's being a badass with guns, shooting to people who are real, and who do deserve the worst of the world. Who we would like to do what this character, Creassy does!!! Action movies at its best!Now I wonder how this was made. It kinda' feels as if it was a present from Hollywood to us in Mexico City. As if they said: -"We're Hollywood, the parents of action movies; here you go, a gift to all of you guys who need some relief of your sad and terrible situation. Hang in there…" And its frankly great! I hope some one in here feels as inspired as I am, so maybe the movie makes all the way into creating a solution to the terrible situation we're living in here. Maybe not by the authorities, but by some lunatic with guns. I don't care the ways, we just need to stop it!And I could not finish the comment without giving credit to the amazing acting and performance of Denzel Washington and especially of Dakota Fanning, who every time I watch in a movie keeps getting better and better in her acting. That girl's just great; she's gonna get to the top! I wish I had a daughter like that!Great action movie! In the name of Mexico City: Thank You!!! We needed this!

GREAT MOVIE

I LIKE ALL THE DENZEL WASHINGTON MOVIES.THIS ONE HAD A LOT OF EXCITEMENT AND SUSPENCE.THE PLOT HAD SOME SURPRISING TWISTS.

Denzel gives a good performance

Denzel does a great job playing a former government agent assigned to protect a little girl from kidnapping in Mexico City. When he is assigned he is ready to kill himself. He and the little girl develop a type of father/child relationship that is so strong that it gives him reason to live. When the girl is actually kidnapped, Denzel goes on a rampage against anyone that was involved, meting out vigilante justice.Some scenes may be a little graphically violent and the actual kidnapping scene is a heartbreaker, but it is a story that it is one of those rare action films that has its heartwarming scenes too! Christopher Walken is pretty good as Denzel's friend and look for Marc Anthony as the little girl's father.

Riveting viewing!

Certainly one of the finest movies I have seen for quite some time. Exquisite direction and flawless acting make this a very entertaining and often moving film. Denzel Washington plays one of his most engaging and emotional roles to date, and the rest of the cast perform beautifully. Christopher Walken is of course superb in his part although he did not appear as often as I would have liked. A story of ultimate greed that backfires is offset against a childs innocence and love. This is also a film for action movie lovers as it has its fair share of bullets, rockets and revenge. The location of Mexico City adds a feel of seediness and corruption which in itself is an eye opener. All in all, a truly gripping film from beginning to end. Highly recommended!

Sad, funny, violent - almost the perfect flick.

Man on Fire is a 2+ hour joyride. It starts fast and never stops. Denzel does things you wouldn't expect from a true Hollywood 'star' - and that's what makes this film great. I couldn't help thinking that this should have been Steven Segal's movie if he hadn't let himself move into the direct to video market. Violent, kick ass, 3 word title......If Denzel makes the movie great, Dakota Fanning makes it special. Wow. A 9 year old leading Washington around in a scene. So good its scary. I hope to see more from her in the near future.Of course, mix with Christopher Walken and you've got a near perfect movie. Happy to have this as part of my DVD collection.

This movie reminds me of an episode of Beast Wars.

Man on Fire is an excellent movie, and certainly one of the best of 2004; it's a shame Denzel Washington didn't get an Oscar nomination for this. In this movie he plays John Creasy, a man assigned to protect a young girl in Mexico. He regains his will to live as he bonds with Pita. When she gets kidnapped, the movie turns into an intense story of violent revenge as Creasy hunts down all the criminals and even police who are in on this kidnapping scandal as he searches for the truth about Pita. This movie is absolutely riveting, It's practically two and a half hours long but the story is so compelling the time just flies by.The ending of the movie could have been better, but overall this movie is worth watching. (As I said earlier, Man on Fire reminds me of episode 35 of Beast Wars, titled "Code of Hero", where Dinobot, just like Creasy, is a troubled person with a dark past who goes on a seemingly hopeless rescue mission, with a whole lot of revenge thrown in the mix.)If you haven't seen Man on Fire, watch it; you won't regret doing so.

Hero Or Brutal Sadist?

Tony Scott is one of the modern maestros of fancy editing, zippity camera-work, and slick violence. So it's a shame that 'Man On Fire' is closer to the ugly sadism in 'The Fan' than to his wonderful techo-thriller 'Enemy Of The State'. Scott's films are fairly empty and derivative at the best of times, but he knows how to shoot action. Reuniting with Denzel Washington (they made the dynamite submarine drama, 'Crimson Tide') and working from Brian Helgeland's screenplay, this seemed like a can't-miss flick. Well, it missed.What went wrong with 'Man On Fire'? Is it too long? Yes. Apart from the rock-solid Washington and the mere presence of Christopher Walken (playing *GASP* a good guy), is the cast mostly forgettable? Uh huh. Does Scott over-do the visual tricks when he should just let his story work on its own? Yup. Is the movie just too gruesome in the final hour when the hero turns vigilante and shows how they used to do things in Special Ops? Oh yeah. But at least the film is not boring or stupid. Denzel Washington is responsible for a lot of what DOES work, and he's given the opportunity to play a troubled hero in the first half and a sadistic hero in the second half. Actors love challenges like that and it's hard not to root for Denzel when he's kicking the asses of a bunch of guys who deserve it.Dakota Fanning continues to seem like she's an alien from far, far away. This little girl is too grown up for her own good. She can act, though, and her relationship with bodyguard Denzel is nicely developed. They're about the only characters who matter. Everyone else is window dressing. This isn't a terrible film, but it's not one of Tony Scott's best. He usually finds a way to make his violent flicks fun. There isn't much humour or fun to be found here, though. Even worse, there are no surprises in 'Man On Fire'. Geez, if you don't see the plot twist coming from 4 theatres away, you need to see more movies. But I liked the way he used (and sometimes OVERUSED) subtitles.Maybe that's the kick in the head. Here's a movie about kidnappings and children in danger and murders and torture and betrayal and money and Mexico. It's got Mickey Rourke and Chris Walken in supporting performances. The lead is one of the finest actors in Hollywood and his young co-star is the female Haley Joel Osment. The director has made his millions working in the action-thriller genre. And still...all I can remember is the subtitles. I guess that's the essence of Tony Scott, style over substance. In 'Man On Fire', the gap between style and substance was a gigantic chasm.

When will Hollywood get it?

Why can't Hollywood understand that we go to movies to be entertained, not for them to show us how good they are at making movies? This movie has a good story with good actors ruined by the lousy filming and sound. They think it is art. I think the crazy, jumpy filming is just an attempt to hide their inability to make a good movie. And they must have known the sound was bad since they often used subtitles (even for English). It is this same inability that causes every car crash to end in an explosion and having every explosion unbelievably large. This movie also contains both of those crutches. In addition, the movie is unnecessarily long (the story line drags in several places and jumps in others). Don't waste your time on this movie. I gave it 3/10.

MTV influences ANOTHER movie

I enjoyed this movie. It is dark, challenging and the performances are great.

Denzel Washington plays a hired bodyguard and former assassin named Creasy who is to protect an adorable little girl named Pita, played by Dakota Fanning. There relationship is phenominal. Denzel slowly warms to her personality and finds a new purpose in life behind her.

Denzel, once again, proves that he is one of, if not THE finest actor in hollywood. In MAN ON FIRE, he takes on 3 personalities and he flawlessly transforms from one to the next with ultimate believability.

Revenge is ugly.

Everything about the movie is entertaining and engrossing. Yet, one thing really set me off. That one thing was an MTV, flash image story-telling that frequently left me wishing they would just STOP and SHOW THE IMAGES! At times, it was okay, but at times it was frustrating and confusing.

Is it art? Is there a point to it? Or is it just a way to be different? I don't know. From what I saw, much of it served no purpose other than to be artsy and NEW AGE.

You know that instance where you GET IT? Where you're watching a scene and you know what is happening and you know what is going to happen? Many of these scenes were dragged on excrutiatingly long and longer to the point of frustration by bizarre closeups, flashes, overdramatization and slow motion.

The movie's good. It deserved 4 stars, and if I hadn't gotten frustrated at numerous scenes throughout, I would have given it 4 stars.

Great acting, mediocre script, horrible cinematography

I gave this film a low score. Denzel Washington was astonishing! Dakota Fanning (the little girl Pita) gave an Oscar winning performance! The other characters in the movie were equally great. Simply great!So why the low score? Paul Cameron's cinematography was horrible. No wait, horrible isn't bad enough. Putrid? Hmmm, maybe that's still not quite the right word.How about mind-numbingly awful? Dreadful? Really really NOT GOOD?Man, I just can't describe how bad it was. At time, I found myself purposely not watching the film and just listening to it instead so that I didn't have to watch Cameron's display of total lack of talent.Cameron has done some good stuff before. I think that maybe he tried too hard to add some "artistic flair" to the movie or something.But I do recommend seeing the movie. Rent it, don't buy it. It's very depressing and the ending is a bit stupid, but it's worth a watch.

Stylish and Thrilling

This film is everything (and more) that I've come to expect from Tony Scott. Sure, the filming style is something we've seen in just about every thriller of the last ten years, from Se7en to Saw. What makes this film stand out is how *well* Scott does it. All his techniques could be very off-putting, but instead are tools to put you in the mind of Creasy, played by Denzel Washington.Which brings up the acting. Denzel's performance as Creasy is a tour-de-force of the familiar tortured soul character. While I hesitate to call this his best performance (I've yet to see Malcolm X), it is certainly his best of the ones I've seen. And then there's Dakota Fanning. People generally hesitate to call her a good actress because of her age, but I have no such reserves. It's very refreshing to see her in such a dark film and not hiding in comedies that do little to showcase her talent. Christopher Walken, who is one of my all-time favorites, has a supporting role as Creasy's longtime friend, and really makes me wonder why he doesn't get more starring roles with performances like that.The first hour or so of the film is very well-acted and touching, but the film really kicks off after Dakota Fanning's character is kidnapped. It's quite chilling to see the lengths that the Creasy character will go to for revenge. Including a scene where he cuts of a man's fingers one by one and uses the car's cigarette lighter to cauterize the wounds. While that sounds horribly gruesome, little of this is shown clearly. The high point of the film (or low point, if you don't go for sad endings) is the final scene where Creasy sacrifices himself for the life of the girl. Some might say that it's too depressing, but to have any other ending would be cheating.7.8 out of 10

Strong violence but also love and redemption

Denzel and Dakota will hopefully do more movies together, the on screen chemistry really worked here. I really enjoyed this movie and felt it was much much more than just a basic revenge film.
Dakota plays a young rich girl longing to be loved for who she is and the relationship between her and Denzel (her bodyguard) grows into a friendship.

There are some violent scenes in this movie, but there is a lot of redemption and a real love story, so I still recommend it to those that often pass on these kinds of movies. Both my teenagers enjoyed the flick, and although I hesitate to call it a family movie, there is much here to be appreciated by older teens through adults.

I give it a strong recommendation and think it's one worth having in the collection.

human nature burns right through

The minute Lisa (Radha Mitchell) accepted Creasy (Denzel Washington) to be her daughter Pita's(Dakota Manning) bodyguard, I had this eerie feeling that the storyline would be as similar as Kevin Costner's and Whitney Houston's "The Bodyguard", employer and employee mixing business with pleasure. But as "Man on fire'" progressed and Creasy kept it strictly professional, I relaxed and let suspense in through the back door.
When Pita is kidnapped and Creasy nearly dies in the drama from gunshot wounds, there is the usual family agony, nail biting wait for ransom calls and the inevitable 'drop'. This stage is where things go wrong after the kidnappers' attempt to grab the money is foiled and we are led to believe that Pita is killed by the mastermind of the kidnapping aka ''The Voice" as a result of the betrayal.

However, after Creasy recovers (at least enough for him to be able to muster an appetite for destruction) he takes matters into his own hands in order to find the kidnappers by blowing up a crowded night club, chopping off some of a corrupt cop's fingers, and other acts of extreme lawlessness that leave one wondering whether Mexico City has a shortage of firearms and commandos.
The turning point is when Samuel (Marc Anthony) Pita's father, confesses to have had a hand in the kidnapping after Creasy confronts him about a suspicious deposit in his attorney's off-shore account; and commits suicide as an atonement.

After being led to 'the voice" by his brother, Creasy agrees to die (aided by a gunshot wound courtesy of 'the voice's" brother) for the sake of Pita, who fortunately, is alive and unharmed. Creasy lends a sad and fresh twist to its conclusion, because Hollywood's heroes save lives more and die less. Deception, violence, greed and other vices that characterise our human existence are dished out in ample portions.
Some scenes can be visually horrifying, so don't watch on a full stomach.

Who is really on fire here????

This movie was released in theaters last Spring. It was released on DVD just last Fall when I saw it and it is worth the buy.

It is about an ex-CIA operative (Denzel Washington) who was forced to take a leave from the CIA for a drinking problem. He is now in Mexico City getting paid to be a bodyguard for a grade school age beautiful American girl who is a daughter of one of the richest families in Mexico City. John Creasy (Denzel Washington) developes a close friendship with the daughter. When she is kidnapped for ransom, her bodyguard is about to "paint his masterpiece" as far as getting even goes.

What it really is that Denzel the actor paints his masterpiece just by doing this movie as his acting is superb in here. This is a must see.