Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19973 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-02-14
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 140 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Style trumps substance in Man on Fire, a slick, brooding reunion of Crimson Tide star Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott. The ominous, crime-ridden setting is Mexico City, where a dour, alcoholic warrior with a mysterious Black Ops past (Washington) seeks redemption as the devoted bodyguard of a lovable 9-year-old girl (the precociously gifted Dakota Fanning), then responds with predictable fury when she is kidnapped and presumably killed. Prolific screenwriter Brian Helgeland (Mystic River, L.A. Confidential) sets a solid emotional foundation for Washington's tormented character, and Scott's stylistic excess compensates for a distended plot that's both repellently violent and viscerally absorbing. Among Scott's more distracting techniques is the use of free-roaming, comic-bookish subtitles... even when they're unnecessary! Adapted from a novel by A.J. Quinnell and previously filmed as a 1987 vehicle for Scott Glenn, Man on Fire is roughly on par with Scott's similar 1990 film Revenge, efficiently satisfying Washington's incendiary bloodlust under a heavy blanket of humid, doom-laden atmosphere. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
John Creasy (Denzel Washington) is a lost soul. A former government operative, he has become an alcoholic nomad, searching for inspiration and redemption. An old friend (Christopher Walken) who lives in Mexico gets Creasy a job as a bodyguard for nine-year-old Lupita 'Pita' Ramos (Dakota Fanning), the daughter of Mexican Samuel (Marc Anthony) and his American wife Lisa (Radha Mitchell). Creasy's primary job is to protect Pita from the kidnapping attempts that are an increasing menace to the children of Mexico City's wealthy. A man of few words and many secrets, Creasy initially balks at Pita's attempts to befriend him, but soon a bond grows between the precocious child and this lonely man who is tormented by his past. When Pita is kidnapped despite Creasy's valiant attempts to save her, he will do anything to bring all of those involved to justice. His fury unravels a net of almost unimaginable corruption and greed in the process. Director Tony Scott (TOP GUN, CRIMSON TIDE) builds the relationship between Creasy and Pita in the first half of the film in order to justify Creasy's violent actions in the latter half, and in the process he does a fine job of keeping the film's tension consistently high.

Customer Reviews

Slow burning revenge thriller
Tony Scott the man behind such high concept fluff as "Top Gun" directs another revenge flick with Man on Fire. The portents are not good then. Yet this is a mature restrained movie in many ways. Yes it is occasionally very violent but it eschews the flying bullet and pithy one liner approach usually associated with this genre for something far more cool and calculating.
John Creacy (Denzel Washington) is a former C.I.A. assassin with a dose of the moochies and a severe drink problem. He heads down to Mexico to hook up with a former fellow operative Rayburn (Walken) who in an effort to put Creacy on the straight and narrow hooks him up with Samuel (Marc Anthony), a Mexican aristocrat who in light of Mexico's appalling Kidnap culture needs a full time bodyguard for his precocious daughter Pita played with naturalistic verve by Dakota Fanning. At first Creacys relationship with his young charge and her wary mother Lisa (Rahda Mitchell) is terse but time is taken to allow their relationships to develop in a believable manner and so his genuine anger and sense of grief is palpable when she is snatched from under his nose. The pay off is a disaster so Creacy , despite his hospitalisation from gun shot wounds vows to make the kidnappers pay both for the girl and his own curtailed sense of humanity. As Rayburn says "Creacys art is death, he's about to paint his masterpiece".
Washington is superb as he prowls the city picking up one lead after another and extracting information in a series of grisly torture scenes. He radiates a sense of implacable purpose though you have to say he sticks out like a polar bear wearing deely boppers in the city scenes. Not exactly low key. Creacy receives help from an Investigator and journalist and they help him identify the head of the Kidnap ring as a man known only as "The Voice" which I thought was an Ultravox song., but then I never worked for the C.I.A. There is a minor plot twist here that you can see coming a mile off, a bit like Washington actually, but the ending has a neat less than clichéd ambiguity that shows us that violence can achieve some moral resolutions but always at a price.
Creacys totalitarian mission is very old school. Note the leading characters initials are J.C. The difference here of course is that the cause is a just one and I defy any parent to deny that they would wish this form of brutal retribution on anyone who harmed their children.
Washington's effortless gravitas, some excellent support and superb production values make this a compelling movie. It's slightly overlong (Nearly 21/2 hours) and some of the editing is that irritating fast cut twitchy variety which in this long a movie is pushing it but overall this a superior example of the genre ,in my view far more worthy of attention than the excessive and stylised "Kill Bill". Man on fire is no flash in the pan but a genuine slow burner.

Just as QT said, this movie is 'TOUGH AS HELL'...
and what a movie this is!!! Not quite sure what the critics saw but this is definitely one of the best revenge flicks, if not the best revenge flick EVER made!!!! The movie starts off with bodyguard Denzel 'Creasy' Washington assigned to protect little Dakota Fanning (brilliant actress) from kidnapping. The first half of the movie is pretty light hearted, but half way through, Pita (Fanning) gets kidnapped and the movie slips into a pretty sadistic raw violence mode as Creasy turns to avenge Pitas 'killers' which might not be easy to digest for some viewers. Nevertheless, if you're a fan of any type of thriller or a fan of Denzel Washington, who actually tops his performance here from Training Day, then this is a MUST!!! There's also a fine supporting role from Christopher Walken who's very good as Creasy's friend. Buy this dvd now...you won't be dissapointed!!! The extras dont dissapoint either: There's over 30mins of fairly good deleted scenes, 70 minute 'vengence' documentary exploring all the aspects of the making of the movie, plus a couple of decent trailers, and a music video.

Gets better with repeated viewings...
The first time I saw this film I thought it was very good, but I then watched it a second time and found that I absolutely loved it!! I've always thought Tony Scott to be a great director ever since True Romance, and now he's teamed up with writer Brian Helgeland who wrote the screenplay for the classic LA Confidential. This truly is a recipe for a great movie - great dialogue, great cast, great acting and wonderfully paced direction as ever by Tony Scott. The build up of the relationship between Creasy and Pita is totally absorbing and is what makes the rest of the film so moving. A great action movie with characters that you can genuinely care about. I recommend this to anyone (unless you can't stand violence of which there's plenty). Thankyou once again Tony Scott.