Overdirected

Rating: 5/10 (24 April 2004)

Man On Fire is at least an improvement on the Scott Glenn movie that it's a remake of, but it could have been so much better than it is that thinking about the movie is ultimately very frustrating. The script is solid (at least until the goofy illogical ending) and the film boasts an exceptionally gifted cast, but Tony Scott's jerky direction is obnoxious beyond belief. Scott can't keep his camera still for five seconds and all the jittery cutting and moving and tricks he plays with the speed of the film severely undercut the performances and storytelling. I have never been a fan of Tony Scott and I never will, but this is easily his worst directed movie since The Hunger, his first feature and another one that was overdirected to the extreme detriment of the script. Scott's style is at least bearable when he has weak material like Enemy of the State, but he doesn't alter his style based on the needs of the script he is directing. Someone like Clint Eastwood with a more reserved classical style could have taken this exact same script and cast and made a shatteringly powerful thriller. Instead Tony Scott made a two and a half hour head-ache.