Perhaps Tony Scott's greatest movie but the ending could have been better

Rating: 8/10 (10 April 2013)

This film tells the story of a former US Marine, John W Creasy, who is haunted by his experiences and dark memories of when he participated in numerous counter-terrorism black ops. He travels to Mexico to visit his old friend and army buddy, who works as a security detail for some Japanese businessmen. His friend persuades him to settle for a while in Mexico and recommends him for a bodyguard job, guarding Pita, the young daughter of a rich couple in Mexico City. Pita shows Creasy "that it's alright to live again" and a strong bond forms between the two, only to be shattered by Pita's kidnapping. Creasy swears revenge and goes after the kidnapper's and Pita's fate.
The film has excellent cinematography, with hand-held camera during most of the film. The first hour focuses a lot on the characters, which is something rarely done by action films. This allows the viewer to immerse himself in the story and get quite invested in Creasy's and Pita's friendship and later on to Creasy's quest. The acting is superb, and it's worthy to note here, that Dakota Fanning plays an excellent child character. Very rarely, do I see children actors perform so well, and usually they just end up being annoying and unnecessary characters. In this case, Fanning will give you one more reason to cheer when Denzel Washington goes to town with the baddies.
The film suggests at the end that it's a true story, but it's not. It's a remake from 1987, and it's based on the first of a series of books of military/action fiction, about the character of Creasy.
My only pick with the film is the ending (SPOILER ALERT): At the end we see Creasy tracking down the boss kidnapper's family and holding them hostage. He contacts the kidnapper and offers their lives in exchange for the kidnapper to turn himself over to Creasy. The kidnapper reveals that he has Pita alive and well and that he'll give her back, in exchange for his family AND Creasy's life. Creasy agrees without hesitation and surrenders. Where this "sacrifice" makes for a dramatic end, it is an overly unnecessary one. First off, Creasy already holds ransom the kidnapper's brother, pregnant wife and her children. This should have been more than enough as a bargaining chip. Secondly, he's shot on the chest earlier, but could have easily survived that if he seeked medical attention from one of the numerous allies he has in town, so giving himself up because "he's already dead" is not a valid reason. So what Creasy does is highly illogical and as I said again, and can not emphasize this enough UNNECESSARY. The only reason it's there is to make the audience cry or something, but if Tony Scott wanted to end with a sacrifice, he should have built it up in a way that it didn't feel forced. A sacrifice is dramatic when it is a sacrifice that must be done otherwise there can be no victory. Otherwise it just leaves you with a bitter feeling. Also, the film was not based on a true story as the film suggests at the end, so the sacrifice was not something that happened in real life either way. (SPOILER ENDS)