Man on Fire. Twice.

Man on Fire (Original)

            This is a 1. I want to make that clear from the beginning. The plot is essentially the same as the remake Man on Fire starring Denzel Washington, the difference is that everything in that film is well executed, and everything in this film is poorly executed.

            Christopher Glenn (The Right Stuff) plays Crease, and Joe Pesci (8 Head in a Dufflebag) plays his contact. The setting is Italy rather than Mexico, and the rest is as it is, absolutely horrible. And the ending is much much different. It’s a simple idea of tracking down the kidnappers, but yeah, that’s all I have to say. This is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, and the elements are all the same to it’s modern counterpart, but, well, they just totally lost out on this one. Totally.

Man on Fire (Remake)

            Tony Scott (Dir. True Romance) brings a phenomenal composition in telling the story of the man on fire. A remake of a 1976 Christopher Glenn flick of the same name, Scott takes it to a new level, and brings both his incomparable style and a terrific setting and composition style to bring the man on fire to life as one of the best movies of 2005.

            Creesy (Denzel Washington, Pelican Brief) is a washed up CIA agent who hits the body pretty hard and doesn’t really have anything to do with his life. He gets called to Mexico by an old associate (Christopher Walken, The Prophecy), who has a new profession. Body Guards. In Mexico City the city is being plagued by a new form of crime, kidnapping children and holding them for ransom. Creesy is placed with an irrepressible cutie played by Dakota Fanning (Hide and Seek) who is the spitting image of Tatum O’Neal. Creesy doesn’t like her, naturally, but of course, being irrepresibel and all she wins him over, but asks too many questions about creesy’s shattered past. He also coaches her to swim and takes part in her life, finally finding fulfillment in the charge of a small child.

            All of a sudden, the kidnapping takes place…Creesy does his best and kills 3 of the assailants, but is himself shot 4 times, and can do nothing to save his young charge. Then the mind games begin as the police try to organize payment which goes horribly awry, and all fear that the girl has died.

            When Creesy gets out of the hospital, he basically goes berserk and is truly a man set on fire for the dispatching of justice. Creative and rich with dialogue fit for kings and characters that find oscar-worthy performances, this movie is a must see for thos in the R-rated class, and I give it a 2.