Good action/thriller

Rating: 7/10 (22 June 2013)

Man on fire" is a good movie that ranges in tone from sentimental to brutal . It's the second adaptation of A.J Quinnell's novel with the same title . The first was made in the 80's . Denzel Washington is great as Creasy , a former CIA assassin who searches for redemption . He's got a death wish and he tries to find meaning of life in Bible and alcohol . A friend (Christopher Walken ) finds him a job in Mexico City as a bodyguard . He has to protect Pita (Dakota Fanning) – daughter of wealthy family from kidnapping . Mexico City in this movie is a grim and unpleasant place where almost every day people are kidnapped . If you thought that only movies from 70's and 80's were able to show big cities as hell on Earth you're wrong. Kidnapping , violence , greed , corruption – it's all here. No wonder Quentin Tarantino likes this movie. Anyway , friendship is growing slowly between Creasy and Pita . The relationship between them kinda reminds me of the relationship between Natalie Portman and Jean Reno in "Leon". Creasy becomes a father figure for Pita and she in return brings some joy in his life. Tony Scott (RIP) was able to capture those intimate moments beautifully. Washington and Fanning have a great chemistry together.
You have to wait for some action until the half of movie , when the tragedy occurs . The first half of the movie feels like a melodrama ( a good one I must say ) , while the second half turns into detective story (Creasy is searching for answers and eliminating bad guys ) . I was all in tears at the end.
Washington gives a very emotional and engaging role . Creasy tries to appear stoic for the whole world , but the viewer is able to feel his pain in smallest gestures or words . Fanning makes Pita an incredible lovely , easy-going but also quite mature character . I'm surprised she didn't received Oscar nominee for her role.
Christopher Walken, Marc Anthony, Radha Mitchell, Mickey Rourke also appear in this movie and give a solid support . I wish we could see more of Walken's character . He's good in his role , but I still feel he was kinda wasted in here.
Tony Scott makes this movie more than just a simple "revenge movie" . His able to capture the drama , while still making the movie entertaining and never boring despite it's quite long time. The screenplay written by Brian Helgeland is intelligent and gives "MOF" a feel of 70's movie . Some of the dialogues are wonderful and very memorable :
-"A man can be an artist. In anything, food, whatever. It depends on how good he is at it. Creasey's art is death. He's about to paint his masterpiece".
-"Forgiveness is between them and God. It's my job to arrange the meeting "

"I am the sheep that got lost, Madre "

Paul Cameron's cinematography is stylish , while the Editing by Christian Wagner has clarity. I still think the movie is too flashy for it's own good . It was probably supposed to create a chaotic feeling matching Creasy's emotions. I understand that , but it was over-used . After some time my eyes were tired and I was really glad for every scene without flashy visuals . Oh , and the movie is half an hour too long.
There is some raw brutality in this action drama . The scenes of carnage and violence are both intense and suspenseful . There are some nasty murder and torture scenes here. Good music too. Overall , this is a good movie from Tony Scott . I give it 8/10.