Because I think by now almost everybody knows the plot of the movie, I won’t go into much details. If you want to know the basics, it just this- A body guard vows revenge on those who kidnapped the girl he is suppose to protect. If you want a better-detailed explanation of the film’s plot, please read another review because I am just writing this to say what I thought about this movie.

Like I said with my review for the Punisher, I can only take a guess that Spring 2004 was not meant for revenge flicks. There were two revenge flicks released during that April/May period. First was the Punisher, second was Man on Fire. And to my surprise, I did not find either of them that satisfying (But if I had to choose, I would say The Punisher is the better film.) But I was VERY surprised that I did not like this movie because I WANTED so much to like it. I remember when there were commercials for this movie where they would show Denzel shooting a grenade launcher at a car, and I would say, “Damn, that movie looks awesome!” I even remembered there were adds on the internet that showed Denzel, wearing his gray suit and sunglasses, walking away from an explosion with a serious look on his face. Just by looking at that image of Denzel with fire in back round just screams at you that this will be an awesome movie. Unfortunately I missed this one in theaters, and looking back now that was REALLY UNFORTUNATE. So for months afterwards I awaited eagerly for its dvd release. Every so often I would check up on amazon.com to see when it was coming. Finally in September that year, it was out. After reading so many positive reviews and because it looked so awesome, I seriously considered just buying it without ever having seen it. Whenever I went to my local Blockbuster, every copy was already taken. Just by mere luck I just happened to be leaving Blockbuster just as someone was returning a copy of the movie. I got my hands quickly on that copy. I got home, ran to my TV and popped it into my DVD player. At that moment I was finally going to watch a movie I have been so eager to see for so long. A few hours later I said “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT????”

Of all the movies I have ever seen (which are alot) this had to be the most dissapoining one to come across. At that moment I could not believe I hated something, which I had been so hyped up about for months. Then I wished I had seen in it theaters because I would have realized then it sucks and that would have been the end of it. Now I just ended up wasting months and time to see this move and completely regretting. And its not like I tried to like. I paid very close attention to some of the film’s exciting moments (ex-When Denzel infiltrates a night club, beats up then questions some badguys, then torches the place as his exit cue) but who was I kidding? There is no way a few good parts could save this movie from the god-awful direction it was lead into.

Now let me explain why this was a huge letdown. First off I understand character development is a huge necessity in any film. Hell any film that excludes that element well indeed turn out bad. This film puts a lot of focus point on character development to that of Creasy (Denzel Washington). But sometimes too much of a good thing is indeed too much, which means it is bad hence a mistake. This film is like 2 and ½ hours and the first 1 and ½ hours is based on Creasy’s character development from his first interactions with Pinta (Dakota Fanning), to the friendship they make, to when she is kidnapped and how he handles it, to when he finally vows revenge. It way too long and the movie becomes a bore that you almost do not even care about the action sequences. And the action sequences were not even all that exciting, which makes this movie even more unwatchable. The action was so slow, sometimes I had trouble even knowing if an action scene was going on. So naturally I did not expect anything to grab my attention.

But aside from the direction of the actors and movement, there is something seriousely wrong with how this movie was put together. What the hell was up with those flashy camera frames and the unnecessary subtitles? Were they there to make his movie seem cool or were they for dramatic effect. Whatever the goal was, I can tell you this, it failed to reach it. All it did was just make this movie seem harder to watch. If they were for memory sequences, then perhaps the flashy camera tricks would have been perfect. Personally I think they have “something from the past” effect when used which is why it would seem ridiculous to use them when your suppose to be watching something in the “present”. But I could have looked past that if it were not for those unnecessary and goofy subtitles. What I mean by unnecessary is that even parts when people were speaking English, subtitles would appear. What I mean by goofy is that the subtitles had various ways appearing in the screen. Some of the would appear word for word at how fast the character was speaking. Some would fade in, some would swipe in from either side of the screen. Sometimes it almost seemed like I was watching a comic book because of the subtitles.

In short, aside from a few good violent scenes and the great dialogue (ex-”I wish you had more time”), Man on Fire does not have much to offer. This movie was a serious waste of time, I could not be happier that I did not buy this movie because I would regretted it-BIG TIME.

Well not really, but she made me want to die when she tries to be smart. Shes like 3 years old, and she is trying to be a smart aleck in front of a good actor. I dont care if it was in the script, little girls should not be actors, or any children. It ruins their lives, like Michael Jackson or Mcaluy Gaykindof or…………….