kitty
04-26-2004, 12:18 PM
Man on Fire: A Real Roaring Rampage of Revenge
There's a problem with Denzel Washington: he's starting to show his age. Fortunately, it's nothing to lose sleep over.
Having just scored his Best Actor Academy Award a year or so ago, Denzel seems so far removed from his early days with Spike Lee in Mo' Better Blues. He's done trying too hard and experimenting with his style -- he knows what works for him and he milks that for all its worth.
Man on Fire is the next installment in the Denzel chronicles, a film that is basically carried squarely on Denzel's shoulders. We've seen his charactor, Creasy, before; Denzel takes what worked best for him in Training Day, The Hurricane, and Courage Under Fire and roles them into one spinning ball of neurotic testosterone for Man on Fire.
Unsurprisingly, it works. Very well.
Creasy is a washed-up ex-assassin (though this is left deliberately ambiguous) with a mysterious past and a drinking problem, hired as a bodyguard to protect young Lupita Ramos (Dakota Fanning) from the danger of kidnapping of foreign children in Mexico City. Like drugs or prostitution, the kidnapping and ransom of the children of wealthy Americans is a lucrative profession, involving cold-hearted anonymous ringleaders and corrupt police officials. Of course, Pita is kidnapped and, when the plan to deliver the ransom money goes awry, Creasy sets out to avenge Pita's murder by killing anyone who may have profited from her death and single-handedly taking down the kidnapping ring with a couple of well-placed bullets.
In many ways, both the premise and the characters of this film are predictable -- Dakota Fanning is her usual adorable self as the overly precocious Lupita and Christopher Walken, playing Creasy's friend and fellow ex-assasin, Rayburn, seems to have been included in the screenplay only because of the age-old adage that Christopher Walken can only make a movie better - his character serves no purpose other than as a vehicle for Denzel to express Creasy's conflict and turmoil. In fact, like the numerous kidnappers that meet their untimely ends from the business end of one of Creasy's weapons, Walken, Fanning and the other characters are little more than props for this one-man show.
Denzel delivers his usual powerhouse performance as a man on the edge, only this time, he's given the free reign to deliver upon those violent impulses. The appeal of the latter half of the movie isn't so much Creasy's descent into madness as it is watching him kill the kidnappers in inventive and rather fun ways. He certainly establishes himself as someone you *really* don't want to mess with.
Director Tony Scott offers a unique spin on what is a pretty typical story, adding to the draw of this film. Though half the movie is delivered in Spanish, Scott keeps the viewers interested in reading the subtitles by having them fade in and out next to the characters, more like a video game intro or a cutscene out of Max Payne than your basic subtitled movie, altering the intensity to match the emotion of the character speaking. It's a sleek look, and it's suprising that, to my knowledge, it's never been done with subtitles before. Scenes of Denzel in drunken stupors, usually delivered intensely and emotionally through Denzel's own acting power while the director 'points and shoots' the camera, were done by Scott through the use of rapid, shaky camera movement and quick cuts, brilliantly capturing the feelings of uncertainty, pent-up rage and confusion. Other shots of Creasy remembering Pita's friendship were similarly haunting and well-devised.
The screenplay is evocative and moving, at times as ruthless as Creasy's quest for revenge and at times as endearing as Pita's love for Creasy (a disturbingly pedophilic yet altogether cute relationship). From the opening credits onwards, it, like the kidnappers themselves, shows no mercy to the viewer as it depicts the gruesome cruelty of kidnapping.
That is not to say, however, that the film is not without its share of faults. At one point, Creasy meets with an 8-month old pregnant woman who is part of the kidnapping ring, and though she is a significant part of the plot, her ultimate fate is left unknown. Rather than deal with the moral dilemma that Creasy must surely have faced as far as his oath for revenge and this woman, the film conveniently sidesteps the issue by discarding this character without any sign of what happens to her. Also, some of the plot points were as contrived and predictable as Denzel's acting (though it's so good, that, I, for one, didn't mind).
However, overall, Man on Fire is a wonderful, feel good action movie, with just the right amount of good acting and eye candy graphic violence. It's neither pretentious nor does it make light of itself. In short, it is a satisfying roaring rampage of revenge, even if it's all been done before.
There's a problem with Denzel Washington: he's starting to show his age. Fortunately, it's nothing to lose sleep over.
Having just scored his Best Actor Academy Award a year or so ago, Denzel seems so far removed from his early days with Spike Lee in Mo' Better Blues. He's done trying too hard and experimenting with his style -- he knows what works for him and he milks that for all its worth.
Man on Fire is the next installment in the Denzel chronicles, a film that is basically carried squarely on Denzel's shoulders. We've seen his charactor, Creasy, before; Denzel takes what worked best for him in Training Day, The Hurricane, and Courage Under Fire and roles them into one spinning ball of neurotic testosterone for Man on Fire.
Unsurprisingly, it works. Very well.
Creasy is a washed-up ex-assassin (though this is left deliberately ambiguous) with a mysterious past and a drinking problem, hired as a bodyguard to protect young Lupita Ramos (Dakota Fanning) from the danger of kidnapping of foreign children in Mexico City. Like drugs or prostitution, the kidnapping and ransom of the children of wealthy Americans is a lucrative profession, involving cold-hearted anonymous ringleaders and corrupt police officials. Of course, Pita is kidnapped and, when the plan to deliver the ransom money goes awry, Creasy sets out to avenge Pita's murder by killing anyone who may have profited from her death and single-handedly taking down the kidnapping ring with a couple of well-placed bullets.
In many ways, both the premise and the characters of this film are predictable -- Dakota Fanning is her usual adorable self as the overly precocious Lupita and Christopher Walken, playing Creasy's friend and fellow ex-assasin, Rayburn, seems to have been included in the screenplay only because of the age-old adage that Christopher Walken can only make a movie better - his character serves no purpose other than as a vehicle for Denzel to express Creasy's conflict and turmoil. In fact, like the numerous kidnappers that meet their untimely ends from the business end of one of Creasy's weapons, Walken, Fanning and the other characters are little more than props for this one-man show.
Denzel delivers his usual powerhouse performance as a man on the edge, only this time, he's given the free reign to deliver upon those violent impulses. The appeal of the latter half of the movie isn't so much Creasy's descent into madness as it is watching him kill the kidnappers in inventive and rather fun ways. He certainly establishes himself as someone you *really* don't want to mess with.
Director Tony Scott offers a unique spin on what is a pretty typical story, adding to the draw of this film. Though half the movie is delivered in Spanish, Scott keeps the viewers interested in reading the subtitles by having them fade in and out next to the characters, more like a video game intro or a cutscene out of Max Payne than your basic subtitled movie, altering the intensity to match the emotion of the character speaking. It's a sleek look, and it's suprising that, to my knowledge, it's never been done with subtitles before. Scenes of Denzel in drunken stupors, usually delivered intensely and emotionally through Denzel's own acting power while the director 'points and shoots' the camera, were done by Scott through the use of rapid, shaky camera movement and quick cuts, brilliantly capturing the feelings of uncertainty, pent-up rage and confusion. Other shots of Creasy remembering Pita's friendship were similarly haunting and well-devised.
The screenplay is evocative and moving, at times as ruthless as Creasy's quest for revenge and at times as endearing as Pita's love for Creasy (a disturbingly pedophilic yet altogether cute relationship). From the opening credits onwards, it, like the kidnappers themselves, shows no mercy to the viewer as it depicts the gruesome cruelty of kidnapping.
That is not to say, however, that the film is not without its share of faults. At one point, Creasy meets with an 8-month old pregnant woman who is part of the kidnapping ring, and though she is a significant part of the plot, her ultimate fate is left unknown. Rather than deal with the moral dilemma that Creasy must surely have faced as far as his oath for revenge and this woman, the film conveniently sidesteps the issue by discarding this character without any sign of what happens to her. Also, some of the plot points were as contrived and predictable as Denzel's acting (though it's so good, that, I, for one, didn't mind).
However, overall, Man on Fire is a wonderful, feel good action movie, with just the right amount of good acting and eye candy graphic violence. It's neither pretentious nor does it make light of itself. In short, it is a satisfying roaring rampage of revenge, even if it's all been done before.