Denzel Washington's Man on Fire Deserves Reevaluation

Man on Fire, directed by Tony Scott and released April 23, 2004, stars Denzel Washington as John Creasy, a former Force Recon Marine and CIA SAD/SOG officer who takes a job as a bodyguard in Mexico City. When the family's nine-year-old daughter—who regards him as an uncle—is kidnapped, Creasy embarks on a violent campaign of revenge.

Contemporary critics were unkind: the film holds a 39% Rotten Tomatoes score and a 47% Metacritic rating. The movie’s grim tone is deliberate. Framed as a straightforward revenge tale, it presents vigilantism as Creasy’s only recourse amid heavily implied police and political corruption, and it favors pace and raw intensity over a performance-driven approach.

Some reviewers criticized Scott’s grainy, shaky-cam aesthetic, but the film delivers the violence and menace it sets out to show. A. J. Quinnell, the author of the novel, praised the adaptation and its chemistry between the leads.

Mexico, Mexico City

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