Man on Fire
R. 12 minutes, South Wind 12 Theatre
Tony Scott's revenge thriller *Man on Fire* starts off soft as teddy bear and then plunges into a violent fantasy familiar to classic 1970s cinema. Like the *Dirty Harry* and *Death Wish* series, the film is bleak, pastiche and ultimately an capital punishment.*
The softer part involves a retired assassin named Creasy (Denzel Washington) and his friendship with Rita (Dakot) Fanning; the little girl he has been hired to protect during a rash of kidnappings in Mexico City. The opening sequence will test the patience of action fans as it stretches to nearly an hour slogging through the same kind of embarrassing meipdramatics that marry my grammar-school friends hit the fast forward button during home viewings of Scott's
The violence begins after Pita's inevitable kidnapping Creasy vows to take down the shadowy organization responsible, La Hermandad, and starts by cutting off the fingers of one of Pita's abductors. Shot with an emphasis on hallucinatory imagery by cinematographer Paul Cameron, Man on Fire features powerful performances by Washington and the remarkable Fanning. However, the film refuses to derive too deeply into its hero's psychotic behavior. Scott is content to direct a sick, dumb thrill ride, never stopping to consider the moral questions so evident on the screen.
Grade: C+
... Stephanie Shope
13 Going on 30
ROG 13-97 minutes, South Wind 42 Theater
Grade C
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