Man On Fire

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Year:	2004
Country of origin:	USA / UK
Director:	Tony Scott
Genre:	Revenge thriller, based on a true story
Starring:	Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Christopher Walken, Mickey Rourke
Rating:	3/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328107/
Tagline:	Revenge is a meal best served cold
Favourite line:	"Creasey's art is death. He's about to paint his masterpiece."

Denzel Washington is something of an enigma, an actor who tends to be extraordinary in movies that are usually fairly ordinary.
And this is no exception.

Based on a true story, here's the plot:
Denzel plays Creasy, an ex-assassin, now working as a bodyguard, though a low paid one due to his drinking habit slowing his reactions and dulling his senses.
Employed by a wealthy family in Mexico City to protect their daughter, Pita, Creasy is an anti-social sort, making it clear intially that he is only interested in protecting her, not in befriending her. Inevitably, it's not too long before her charm and perseverance wear him down and, before you know it, he's guiding her training for her swimming trials and helping her with her history homework.
See, it seems Pita has shown him that it is OK to be happy about life, OK to feel compassion and even love for another human being, something Creasy had forgotten. Then, one day, Pita is stolen away from him, he gunned down, she kidnapped and held for ransom.
Creasy is hospitalised and, when he awakens from his coma, discovers that the negotiations were botched and that Pita has been killed.
So begins a revenge that will be prolonged and bitter sweet, Creasy determined that every single person involved with her kidnapping must pay the heaviest of prices.

All sounds pretty good for a crime thiriller, right?
Right.
The problem is the pacing.
This takes an absolute age to get going and, even post-kidnap, scenes drag on for minutes on end, totally needlessly. If director Scott was going for tension, he failed, instead invoking only tedium. Additionally, Scott's pop video background is in clear evidence here, the overtly stylised methods he employs a source of constant irritation with lots of fast pans, cut shots and the trademark staccato style actually in danger of inducing a migraine on occasion.
There are some glimmers of optimism, though.
Denzel is, as always, magnificent. Seriously, I could watch this guy live on air declare Jihad on the Western infidels whilst firing a machine gun into the sky and I'd still applaud wildly.
Another of my favourites, Christopher Walken, pops up in something of a cameo as Creasy's mentor, essentially playing the character he always plays, but that's enough for me. The flashes of violence are brief but intense and effectively handled, but they are infrequent, so be warned.
Not as good as it should have been, then, but it still has it's moments.