Mexican grit with a Hollywood ending

Rating: 7/10 (23 December 2004)

Man on fire is the story of Creasy (Washington), an alcoholic ex-agency man living with the demons of his violent working past and trying to find solitude at the bottom of a bottle. He is offered work by a friend and ex-college(Walken)to be a Bodyguard for a family in Mexico city and reluctantly agrees. The first act of the movie is a slow burning story of the relationship between Creasy and Pita, the young daughter of the family he protects. This part of the movie was always going to risk being cheesy as Creasy forms a warm bond with Pita and starts lowering some of the barriers he has to the outside world. The movie, however, deals with the relationship without being cheesy, mainly due to a superb performance by Washington. The first act ends with Pita being Kidnapped and Creasy left shot & injured. From here on, the movie keeps it simple and goes into revenge mode. Creasy hunts down everyone linked to the kidnapping and this ultimately leads to the major plot twist at the end of the second act. The second act, like the first, is excellent and prevents itself from slipping into boring routine because of the performance by Washington. The problem, however, arises in the final act where a typically Hollywood plot point prevents this Urban-noir movie from having the ending it deserves.