Man on Fire

Rating:
Summary: "Man On Fire" is an excellent movie!
Review: "Man On Fire" is an excellent movie! It is a remake of the 1987 movie with Scott Glenn as John W. Creasy, a man who accepts a job as a bodyguard to a wealthy family. Denzel Washington plays the same character with the same name as the Scott Glenn character in the original. It also has the same plot as the original. But this remake looks better than the original. The movie runs at nearly 2 1/2 hours long, which is pretty long, but, it is still an excellent movie with style and charisma, thanks to Denzel. His performance is a possible Oscar nomination for Best Actor at next year's Oscars, he is excellent in this performance. Dakota Fanning, stars as Pita Ramos, the daughter of the wealthy family he protects. Her performance is as excellent as Denzel's is. Creasy, at first, resents life, but, then, something unexpected happens. Creasy and Pita strike up a friendship. Then she gets kidnapped and Creasy is shot, trying to protect her. Then the story revolves around him trying to find her, hence the title "Man On Fire". Christopher Walken, stars as Rayburn, Creasy's friend who helps him in his journey of getting Pita back. Tony Scott's directing is excellent and has made a well done movie. The music by Harry Gregson-Williams is excellent. The cinematography by Paul Cameron is excellent. The film editing by Christian Wagner is excellent. The casting by Lucinda Syson, Manuel Teil, & Bonnie Timmermann is excellent. The production design by Benjamín Fernández & Chris Seagers and the costume design by Louise Frogley is excellent. The art direction by Hector C. Romero is excellent. The set decoration by Elli Griff is excellent. This movie is well made and fast paced. It is a emotional and powerful movie. This has to be Denzel's best movie ever. Go see this movie, if you can or if you want to.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: Denzel Washington is one of the greatest actors around. And Dakota Fanning is absoultely amazing.
The script just has you on the edge of your seat the entire time. With alot of surprises and suspense.
Very enjoyable, one of the best movies this year.

Rating:
Summary: MTV influences ANOTHER movie
Review: I enjoyed this movie. It is dark, challenging and the performances are great.

Denzel Washington plays a hired bodyguard and former assassin named Creasy who is to protect an adorable little girl named Pita, played by Dakota Fanning. There relationship is phenominal. Denzel slowly warms to her personality and finds a new purpose in life behind her.

Denzel, once again, proves that he is one of, if not THE finest actor in hollywood. In MAN ON FIRE, he takes on 3 personalities and he flawlessly transforms from one to the next with ultimate believability.

Revenge is ugly.

Everything about the movie is entertaining and engrossing. Yet, one thing really set me off. That one thing was an MTV, flash image story-telling that frequently left me wishing they would just STOP and SHOW THE IMAGES! At times, it was okay, but at times it was frustrating and confusing.

Is it art? Is there a point to it? Or is it just a way to be different? I don't know. From what I saw, much of it served no purpose other than to be artsy and NEW AGE.

You know that instance where you GET IT? Where you're watching a scene and you know what is happening and you know what is going to happen? Many of these scenes were dragged on excrutiatingly long and longer to the point of frustration by bizarre closeups, flashes, overdramatization and slow motion.

The movie's good. It deserved 4 stars, and if I hadn't gotten frustrated at numerous scenes throughout, I would have given it 4 stars.

Rating:
Summary: DENZEL ON FIRE!!!!!
Review: I had just recently seen The Punisher (which was excellent). This movie I feel was very much in the same vein as The Punisher. Sure there are differences between the two. If you liked The Punisher there is a chance you won't like this. Now to get to what I thought of this film. This was an awesome movie with excellent acting (mostly). Denzel Washington was awesome and was pretty much the whole movie, but I felt Christopher Walken was underused here. He wasn't in the movie very much, and his character had very little importance. Dakota Fanning was also very good (when isn't she though). She is such a good actress, and is so young.
Now to the plot of the film. Creasy (Washington) is a burnt out acholic who travels down to Mexico City to visit his friend Rayburn (Walken). Rayburn tells him of a job involing protecting Samuel Ramos' (Marc Anthony) daughter Pinta(Fanning). At first Creasy is very serious and unsocial, but then begins to care for the girl. Once she is kidnapped it causes serious problems.
In closing this movie is awesome (I've said this like three times now). Denzel Washington is excellent (wow is there an echo). Tony Scott (director) sure knows his movies (check out Enemy of the State or Spy Game). GO SEE THIS MOVIE IT'S ON FIRE!!

Rating:
Summary: Denzel Washington Gives a Powerful Preformance!
Review: I was not planning on seeing "Man on Fire," but after reading the reviews for it, I decided to go check it out. I was pleased with the outcome. The movie was sad, action-packed, always interesting, and greatly acted. The film stars Denzel Washington, Christopher Walken, Dakota Fanning, and Radha Mitchell. In brief, "Man on Fire" is about a man who is the bodyguard of a young girl, and when she is kidnapped, he will stop at nothing to get her back, and find the people who did it, and kill them. But it is much more than that. It is a look at the affect that people could have on others, and a look at corruption, greed, and other things that could kill a man's spirit. At a running time of 146 minutes, "Man on Fire" is an epic look into what a man would do to save another person.

Denzel Washington plays John Creasy. He has just been hired to be the bodyguard to young Pita, the daughter of Samuel and Lisa Ramos, after his friend Rayburn convinced them to interview him for the job. Creasy has a drinking problem, and he tells this to Samuel before getting the job. Pita thinks that Creasy is a friend, a point that he tells her after too much friendly talk. The two eventually bond when she asks for help from him for her swimming races. Then, a problem occurs. While waiting for her to finish her piano lession, corrupt Mexican cops, and other people come and kidnap her, wounding Creasy, and leaving him under arrest for the murder of two cops. Mexican investigator Miguel Manzano knows that Creasy did not kill the cops, and with the help of him and news reporter Mariana, Creasy goes off to find revenge on the people who kidnapped Pita, and who is now reported dead.

"Man on Fire" is not a great film, but it is very entertaining and includes some powerful preformances. Denzel Washington should be nominated for an Oscar from his preformance as John Creasy, and in some scenes young Dakota Fanning steals some of the scenes from him. In reguard to the twist at the end, I did not see anything coming. It is an epic that does not actually feel long. I would see "Man on Fire" again, but I don't recommend it to all. There is some gritty, dark violence, but that is not a problem. The problem is the way the film is shot. It is always moving around, and that got a little annoying at some times. Otherwise, this was a really good film.

ENJOY!

Rated R for language and strong violence.

Rating:
Summary: Washington is Creasy Bear...storyline diverges from the book
Review: If you've read the book, the movie's storyline is a little disappointing. If you've seen the movie and haven't read the book yet... You really need to. It is most satisfying, and will give you a better understanding and appreciation of the character Creasy.

The location switch from Italy to Mexico works well. Of course, we miss out on the Isle of Gozo. As with most novel-to-cinema adaptions, we miss out on a lot of subplot (Creasy's women). And as is inevitable with a major studio production, the ending has been "Hollywood-ized." (can't tell you more without giving away the ending... read the book).

However, Denzel Washington does an excellent job portraying the character Creasy, as I knew he would. Dakota Fanning is Pinta, no question about it. Christopher Walken, always a good choice, was an excellent casting choice here. A.J. Quinnell would be proud. Marc Anthony...? Well, A.J. Quinnell would understand.

Rating:
Summary: The ultimate revenge trip
Review: This screen adaptation of the A.J. Quinnell novel has received mixed reviews, but I found it remained generally true to the spirit of the book.

Creasy (Denzel Washington) is a broken-down, alcoholic, ex-special forces assassin. Visiting his friend Rayburn (Christopher Walken) in Mexico City, he ends up taking a job as a bodyguard to make ends meet. A kidnapping spree has spread throughout Latin America and a wealthy young couple hires Creasy to protect their young daughter. Less concerned with her safety, their primary reason for hiring him is to fulfill the terms of a kidnap-insurance policy.

Pita (Dakota Fanning)'s spunk and unabashed friendliness slowly penetrate Creasy's veil of pain and alcoholism. Soon, he's not only protecting her, but is also coaching her at swimming and helping with studies. Then, in the turning point of the film, despite Creasy's quick-witted defense, Pita is kidnapped from her piano lesson and Creasy left for dead with multiple gunshot wounds.

Corrupt cops, mobsters, and other officials are all taking their cuts from the kidnapping game. As Creasy begins to recover, he sets off on the ultimate roadtrip of revenge. And all hell breaks loose.

I rated this film four stars. Tony Scott has to tone down the nausea-inducing quick cuts, fades, over-exposures, and other tricks of the trade. When he gets into story-telling mode, he does his best work, as Fanning and Washington are nearly perfect in their roles. Do yourself a service and read the books. Nothing matches the entire Creasy series.