Man on Fire

MPAA Rating

R

Theatrical Release Date

Apr 22, 2004

Genre(s)

• Thrillers
• Tony Scott
• Kidnapping
• Loners
• Denzel Washington
• Mexico
• DTS
• Family Features

Rating (Stars)

Description

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. 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

Director

Tony Scott

Stars

• Denzel Washington
• Dakota Fanning
• Marc Anthony
• Radha Mitchell
• Christopher Walken

Running Time

146 minutes

Original Price

$14.98

Current Value

$3.10

DVD Features

• Anamorphic
• Closed-captioned
• Color
• Dolby
• DTS Surround Sound
• Dubbed
• DVD-Video
• Subtitled
• Widescreen
• NTSC
• 2.40:1