Pip squeak Lupita wins over the heart of her personal bodyguard and cold blooded killer John W. Creasy

Rating: 7/10 (28 May 2020)

Okay, so it took me a third watch of Man On Fire to finally get around to writing a review only because to be quite honest, I was tired of seeing Denzel Washington in another action/crime film. But now that the film is well past its freshness date (16 years from its original release date) and after just watching it again for the third time, I saw something magical in the on screen chemistry between a very young ten (10) year old Dakota Fanning and the super star and box office magician, Denzel Washington.
Maybe the plot is a bit stereo typed and ridiculous, (child kidnapping in Mexico and corrupt police force) and Dakota's parents (Radha Mitchell and Marc Anthony) are more than just shallow parents, but what holds this film well above its peers in the crime/hero genre is the growing affection that hired ex CIA operative John Creasy (Denzel Washington) develops for his protective nine (9) year old child Lupita Ramos (Dakota Fanning). Initially we the audience see the relationship between Pita (as she is called) and Creasy Bear (as he is affectionately called by little Lupita) as nothing more as a paid gig that neither child or protector are too keen on, but each day little pip squeak Lupita wears down the hard drinking emotionless bodyguard John Creasy and when she is kidnapped by a slew of bad Mexican banditos, Creasy swears he will make sure anyone and everyone who played even a tiny part in his clients abduction will pay for it with their lives.
The director Tony Scott spared no expense in making sure John Creasy's vengeance mission to make the criminals pay for their bad choice in abductions left no stone unturned, no vehicle explosion too powerful, and no interrogation too brutal that the film had to be rated for adult only audiences.
This is the third time I have seen the film and I am sure to want to watch it again over the next few decades as it surely is a film classic in the crime/hero genre. I give the film a decent 7 out of 10 IMDB rating.