Man on Fire is a 2004 action-thriller movie, based on the 1980 novel of the same name by A.J. Quinnell. The movie was produced by Regency Enterprises and Scott Free Productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Man on Fire was written by Brian Helgeland and directed by Tony Scott.
The story is an ex-CIA operative named John Creasy has reluctantly accepted a job to be the bodyguard for a wealthy businessman's 9-year-old daughter. Just when the two of them have bonded the little girl is kidnapped. Now John must fight he's way through corrupt cops and bloodthirsty criminals in order to find and save the girl.
Why It's Underrated
The reason why the movie is underrated is much like a lot of Tony Scott films (unless it's Top Gun), it just doesn't get enough love despite how good the movie is. I do believe it was shown on TV from time and to time, but like I said I just don't see it enough.
My Thoughts
The only mix bag I have with the movie is the editing. Tony Scott was clearly not only telling a good revenge film, but it also wanted to be very stylized. The problem with that is takes a lot of time to get use to it. I personally didn't get use to it until near the middle.
Now let's get into the more positives of Man of Fire one of those being the music. This is a very gritty movie and Harry Gregson-Williams and Lisa Gerrard's score perfectly reflects. I especially loved how they Incorporated an awesome guitar riff into it. I thought that made the music have a badass vibe to it.
Then we have Denzel Washington's performance. It really goes without saying, that Denzel is an incredible actor and his acting in this one is no expectation. What really made his performance work was how he was able to humanize his character, even in scenes where he's absolutely brutal to the bad guys.
Another aspect of Man on Fire that makes it a good movie is the characterization. The movie does a very good job at giving our characters personalities, letting us know their motives, and who they are as people. All of that is greatly shown during the first hour of the movie, before we finally get to the action.
What also was done really well was the action. It's very gritty and brutal. Although a lot of critics would have you believe the carnage in this is over the top. I truly want to know what movie did they watch? Cause sure, it's intense, but it's far from over the top. Hell, I've seen quite a few action movies where the violence in those, would make Man on Fire look like an after school special.
The last thing I'll praise the film for is the dialogue. I wasn't expecting so much quotable lines. I don't want to give to many of them way, cause I want you to check this out. But one of my favorites is when Creasy said "Forgiveness is between them and God. It's my job to arrange the meeting". Not gonna lie, I get chills whenever I say that.
Man on Fire is quite a thrilling action movie. It has a great score, Denzel gave another great performance, we get a lot of characterization, the action is perfectly intense, and there's a lot of good dialogue throughout. The slight issue comes from the editing. It does take some time to get use too.
My final rating is Good.
Alright that's going to do it for me. Come back on Monday, Mar 28th for part two of Looking Back at the Films of 2021. For that installment I'll be reviewing Chaos Walking and Nobody. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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