"Man on Fire" is a combination of clich?s and violence that fails on every level. There is very little that makes this film worth watching at all, save for the decent acting of the cast and the unintentional humor generated by the film's nonsensical story. The story is about a former government operative named Creasy (Denzel Washington) who is hired to protect a young girl named Pita, (Dakota Fanning) from being kidnapped by a crime syndicate in Mexico City. Obviously, he fails.
The film tries to come off as a realistic thriller that presents the plague of kidnappings as a realistic problem, in the same way "Traffic" did with drug trafficking. Unfortunately, there is a lack of a coherent script. The film's biggest flaw is that the script is filled with plot holes. "Man on Fire" does very little to develop a backstory for Creasy other than show that he is a drunk who had suffered something that caused him to lose his edge. The development of other characters is done without any rhyme or reason.
The other huge problem with the film's script is that it is filled with clich?d characters and plot twists. A girl who is smarter than she should be, check. A government operative who is cold at first but has a heart of gold, check. Evil father who also has a dark past, check. All the clich?s are here, from Creasy coaching Pita to win a big swimming competition to the reporter helping Creasy find Pita while trying to get the big scoop.
The editing in "Man on Fire" is also quite awful. The scenes seem to be shot in the style of a Nine Inch Nails video rather than a dramatic movie, and it develops into a mindless action romp. The scenes combine spinning cameras and blurry shots to establish drama, but they only nauseate the audience.
The only saving grace of the film is the acting. Washington is able to make Creasy a very likeable character. Fanning also manages to play her part, being cute while not being too annoying. Christopher Walken is also amusing when he is on screen despite being a totally unnecessary character.
The problem with this film is that it tries to do too much. The film would have been much better without several of the terrible directing choices that Tony Scott makes. Between occasionally subtitling English dialogue and switching from highly emotional music to a terribly out-of-place song, he further damages his own film.
In the end, "Man on Fire" comes off as more comical than dramatic. The scenes of extreme violence reserved for Tarantino films seem out of place and are quite miserable. This is a revenge flick that manages to give the audience no reason to root for Creasy until the obvious plot twist at the end. Avoid this movie unless you want to laugh at the terrible drama.
