\Man on Fire"" sees Denzel Washington re-teaming with Tony Scott, the director of 1995's ""Crimson Tide."" In one scene of the new film, Christopher Walken describes Washington's character by saying, ""Death is Creasy's art, and now he's painting his masterpiece."" Scott couldn't sum up the movie's aim better himself. In ""Man on Fire,"" audiences are presented with an ambitious movie, where the violence is raw and all else is overcooked.
The movie centers around Creasy (Washington), a hardened alcoholic with an extensive military background who takes a job as a bodyguard in Mexico City. Employed by a wealthy businessman played by Marc Anthony to protect his daughter (Dakota Fanning of ""Cat in the Hat""), Creasy must re-embrace his humanity in dealing with the girl, only to encounter the city's troubling wave of kidnappings.
""Man on Fire"" is a high-impact experience. Hyperkinetic camera work and editing, combined with tense music and startling violence, keep the audience on edge for the movie's entire 146-minute span. But that doesn't make it a top-rate suspense-thriller.
Scott's work often takes excessive artistic license in otherwise indistinctive popcorn movies, like ""Enemy of the State"" or ""Top Gun."" But none of them compares to ""Man on Fire"" when it comes to over-the-top stylization. Scott takes every opportunity to leave his authorial stamp on the movie, even to the point of stylizing the subtitles for Spanish dialogue.??
But while Scott's flourishes serve a purpose, there is little redemption for screenwriter Brian Helgeland (""L.A. Confidential""). Full of empty teases and catchphrases, Helgeland's script is overwrought much like his misguided script for the overrated ""Mystic River."" While the movie makes it clear from minute one that the audience will witness a kidnapping, it waits an interminable half-hour for the incident to arrive, awkwardly inserting a friendship storyline between Washington and Fanning into the movie.
The movie also features icky racial overtones. The white characters are innocent victims and the Mexican characters are mostly corrupt or violent, while even the most benign of them are morally flexible. It is then left up to the one black character to sacrifice his safety and do heinous things in order to protect a little blonde girl.
What saves the movie, aside from Scott's gift for tension, is the cast. Washington's hard-edged performance does not match his career bests, but it makes up for 2003's weak ""Out of Time."" Washington's strong presence and impeccable chemistry with Fanning and Walken carry the movie. Anthony admirably handles his scenes and Fanning delivers a steady performance, though she still demonstrates uncomfortably adult mannerisms.
""Man on Fire"" is solid, even if it gets lost in its stylistic excess and misguidedly sprawling storylines. With all the revenge stories in theaters now, it is surprising to see that ""Kill Bill"" might be the more palatable one for most audiences. But for all the flaws of ""Man on Fire,"" the movie does prove one about both Washington and Scott: even their second tier of work is still worth a look.
