Too much gook, but not bad

Rating: Null/10 (22 April 2004)

This movie should have been made a quarter century ago, with a quarter of the budget, by a director with a quarter of the flash of Tony Scott, and it should have starred Charles Bronson. It would have been Bronson's best Death Wish clone ever--better even than "The Evil That Men Do." As it is, however, this version of "Man on Fire" will be remembered more as the movie where Denzel Washington played a badass without winning an Oscar.
Don't get me wrong--this is a pretty good Death Wish ripoff, despite all the excessive goop Tony Scott throws on top of it (all the nutty editing, change of movie stocks, and unnessesary subtitling was cool in his short "Hire" clip, but is intrusive in a real movie).
I mean, why weren't they throwing the big budget money at this kinda cliche revenge action script back when there were men more suitable for the role? Now Oscar winners with gigantic budgets are basically remaking Chuck Norris movies.
And for some reason that kinda p**ses me off.