Man on Fire
Written in 2004
One of the movies this past Spring I wish I had gotten to in theatres was this revenge thriller starring Denzel Washington. In it, Washington stars as an ex-soldier- with a tormented past (’cause, you know, that always has to be the case)- who is hired by an American family in Mexico City to be bodyguard to their daughter (“I Am Sam’s” Dakota Fanning, who is memorable in her limited screen time) as a series of kidnappings puts them on edge. At first, Washington wants to keep his distance emotionally from Fanning, not get too attached. But it’s not long before he becomes invested in his work, and becomes friends with his charge, which makes her kidnapping- during which he is left for dead- a devastating occurrence. When she is believed to have been killed after a botched drop while Washington is in the hospital, well, you can kind of figure out where we’re headed with this.
After winning Best Actor for “Training Day,” Washington seems to be in a sort of a slump. Though he’s a rare talent that can make any movie worth watching- and “Man on Fire” is no exception- he hasn’t quite maintained that high level of excellence we expect from arguably one of the greatest of all actors, which he’s certainly one of. “John Q?” Good, but a little too self-important. “The Manchurian Candidate?” Interesting, but Sinatra did it better in 1962. “Out of Time?” Haven’t seen it yet, and I want to, but doesn’t it say something that I’m not in a hurry to? Only “Antwone Fisher,” which marked a promising debut as director for Denzel, is up to Washington’s standards, despite being your usual coming-of-age story, thanks to his and star Derek Luke’s sterling performances. Where does “Man on Fire” stand in this company? It’s probably the most disappointing of the lot. Though Washington give it his level best to bring authority and weight to the story, what starts off good- as Leonard Maltin said in his 2-star review in his book, the first hour is good (in fact, I would rate it as some of director Tony “Crimson Tide,” “True Romance” Scott’s best dramatic filmmaking)- devolves into a brainless actioner that’s overstylized and dramatically empty, and follows the path most commonly taken when it would be more interesting to forge a new one (you’d think screenwriter Brian Helgeland- who wrote scripts for the Oscar-winning “L.A. Confidential” and “Mystic River,” as well as “Conspiracy Theory”- could find some new territory in such a routine story). Brainless isn’t bad all the time, ditto stylized action- Scott’s shown that with films like “Top Gun” and “Enemy of the State”- but when it starts off so promising- it’s hard not to get caught up in the story that first hour- you have to wonder what went wrong. Denzel deserves better, and we know he’s capable of finding it.
