Good chemistry between Washington and Fanning

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2004)

Spoilers warning !
It was Air Canada's new pitch, the brand new Airbus 340 with individual TVs mounted on every seat in Economy, allowing the passenger to choose from a dozen films to watch any time, plus the ability to pause, fast forward, rewind (I have NOT received any commission from the said airline). I had been some twelve hours in the plane and had watched two movies. In picking Man on Fire, I didn't notice that it was nearly two-and-a-half hours long. Nor did it matter, as I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere anyway.
On the super mini screen mounted on the back of the seat in front of me, the movie just looked a little unreal. I had no idea how recent was the movie and I didn't have the opportunity to check out the cast beforehand on IMDb as I usually do. Other than Denzel Washing (the only reason for choosing this movie), I only recognised (or thought I did) Christopher Walken. I was too lazy even to read the little introduction in the flight magazine. It was a few days later that I found out that the little girl is played by Dakota Fanning, who made such a wonderful impression in I Am Sam, as well as appeared in earlier movies Sweet Home Alabama and Hansel and Gretal. (Does this girl make only movies with three-word titles? Her next one, I noticed, is 'Hide and seek').
The story started slowly, but it didn't take long to catch on to the main focus of the first part of the movie, the development of the friendship between downhearted, alcoholic ex-CIA assassin Creasy (reminiscing of Tom Cruise in Last Samurai and Viggo Mortensen in Hidalgo) (Denzel Washington) and the little preteen girl Pita (Dakota Fanning) he has been hired to protect from increasing kidnappings in Mexico. While unreservedly predictable, the development in this first half is very watchable, thanks to the performance of the two principals.
The tone of the second half changes, as Creasy goes on a furious revenging rampage after Pita has been kidnapped, and thought dead. This lengthy, graphically sadistic quest would be an ordeal to some in the audience, but a joy ride to others. To me, under the particular circumstances (i.e. having got up at ungodly hours in the morning to go to the airport and having spent some thirteen hours in flight), it was something that barely kept me awake.
The ending is somewhat contrived but after 146 minutes, you really don't much care. In my case, there was at least nowhere to go. In a regular cinema, however, even if the audience had enjoyed the movie, to various degrees, they must be anxious to go, I would imagine.