Man on Fire

I usually don't take movie reviews too seriously; reviewers can have their own opinions just like everyone else. I said usually because for some reason my blood is boiling after having read the Boston Globe's review of the Denzel Washington flick "Man on Fire". On a scale of A to F the Globe reviewer gave the film a D-. A D-. I've seen plenty of horrible films in my day: Gymkata, Battle Field Earth and Speed 2 come to mind. Those films merit a D-, Man on Fire certainly does not.



Man on Fire isn't a perfect film; I can see why some reviewers complain about the second half dipping a bit too deeply into cliché, and the editing being a bit choppy, but beyond that it's very, very good.



Denzel does a great job bringing life to a flawed and troubled character. I think his Creasy character is the perfect post 9/11 anti-hero. His brutal revenge has a clarity that eschews any moral ambiguity about killing those who have wronged him. It's a complex and powerful performance.



In the final analysis I give the movie only a B+, but a D- is just crazy.


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