Stop the shaking already !

Rating: 6/10 (27 July 2005)

Based on a solid (if somewhat classic) story of personal redemption with a very good cast, Man on Fire had everything to succeed had the camera operator and editor not been high during the whole making of the movie. The constant motion, the odd cuts and abrupt transitions, while they may work well in a 2 1/2 minute music video, do not translate all that well to a two+ hour movie. I found it really irritating after about 20 minutes, and I have shot my share of experimental stuff. I even considered giving up on the movie at one point, even though I quite liked the movie, but it really was too much to take.
I guess the younger crowd raised on hysterical MTV style images will probably be more tolerant. However the rest of us with an attention span of more that three seconds may find it painful.
I really would have rated the movie 8 or 9 if it hadn't been for that issue. A shame really... Especially since there were other interesting ideas, notably the work on colour.