Tony Scott was a fantastic filmmaker who didn’t always make great films. When he hit, as he did with Top Gun, True Romance, and Crimson Tide, he hit big, only to follow up the success with curious oddities like Deja Vu, Domino, and The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 — decent flicks, for sure, but not on the same level as his most significant works. Still, Scott’s crowning achievement was 2004’s gritty revenge drama, Man on Fire. This extravagant thriller perfectly balanced the filmmaker’s grunge-fueled artistic flourishes and his crowd-pleasing sensibilities. Also, it just kicks ass.
Man on Fire stars frequent Scott collaborator Denzel Washington as former CIA SAD/SOG officer John Creasy, who accepts a seemingly simple job guarding Lupita (a terrific Dakota Fanning), the pint-sized daughter of an automaker residing in Mexico City. Uniquely, Scott and screenwriter Brian Helgeland spend the first hour establishing Creasy’s relationship with “Pita,” a situation that allows him to shed his personal demons for a brief slice of happiness. These early scenes are drenched with heart and emotion. To the stars’ credit, another hour or so of this relationship might have made for a compelling movie.
Of course, shit hits the fan. Pita is kidnapped, leaving a distraught Creasy incredibly pissed off, setting up a revenge tour in which he executes dozens of bad guys and, as one character notes, paints his ultimate masterpiece.
Scott utilizes fast cutting, quick zooms, and an oversaturated color palette to splatter action sequences across the screen. The results are kinetic and gritty but somehow beautiful, a bizarre marriage between hyper-stylized surrealism and raw, rock ’em sock ’em ferocity. Uniquely, Scott applied this same look and feel to his final four films, namely Domino, Deja Vu, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, and Unstoppable. Still, none attained the same operatic brilliance as Man on Fire. In the case of Domino, Scott’s style overwhelms the picture, leaving viewers too exhausted to notice Keira Knightley’s wicked performance or the sharp satire coursing through the picture’s veins. Likewise, Pelham and Unstoppable offer silly fun but feel more like stepping stones or vehicles Scott uses to test out new techniques. I would have loved to see his efforts’ culmination because it feels like he was honing his talents toward something unique.
Thankfully, Man on Fire is a minor masterpiece amidst a towering career featuring the brilliant Bruce Willis action/drama The Last Boy Scout, Beverly Hills Cop II, Spy Game, and the underrated Kevin Costner thriller Revenge. Scott zigged when others zagged and crafted some of the most extravagant action pictures of his day. Granted, you won’t hear his works uttered alongside AFI’s Top 100 films. However, he had a knack for producing popcorn thrillers coated with just the right amount of intellect to make them stand out against the competition.
In the case of Man on Fire, we get all the snazzy shootouts and obligatory twists and turns, but Scott lets his actors, including co-stars Radha Mitchell, Marc Anthony, and Christopher Walken, do the heavy lifting. Washington, in particular, chews up the scenery, notably in a brilliant sequence featuring a bad guy strapped to the back of a car with a bomb up his… well, watch:
I’ve often described Washington as the greatest star of his generation, though his star shines less than others due to poor script choices. As John Creasy, the man crafts an enigmatic character drenched in regret who rekindles the light within his soul only to shed what final grasp at happiness he has in favor of a blood-soaked revenge tour, ironically needed to save the person who made him happy. It’s as complex a role as any he played over the years, allowing him to demonstrate his unmatched charisma with moments of pure rage. I rank his performance here among his best, perhaps just a notch below Training Day, Glory, and Malcolm X. We take this man for granted, folks.
Look, there are any number of revenge thrillers that follow the same beats as Man on Fire, but none are as raw, focused, violent, and entertaining. I think Scott turned what could have been a by-the-numbers drama into a complex work of art that, like Creasy, pulls no punches, gives no shits, and accomplishes its mission with the utmost exactness.
Even at 20 years old, Man on Fire kicks an absurd amount of ass.
