Man On Fire

Denzel Washington has made some truly great movies. I think Man on Fire (2004) might be one of those really great movies. It comes close, anyway.

This movie didn't do too well at the box office. Despite only having a $60 million production budget, when you factor in a marketing budget, and the fact that studios only get about half of the box office reciepts, this moive likely lost money at the box office. It did make it's money back when you factor in DVD sales and rentals, which reached $123 million, according to the info I could find.

Critics didn't like this movie. The public did. That is reflected in the Rotten Tomatoes scores, where critics gave it a 39% and audiences gave it an 89%. The movie stars Denzel Washington, as John Creasy, and was directed by Tony Scott. Most of the complaints (a lot of them anyway) focus on the fact that the movie is two and a half hours long. If they made it today, it would be over three hours, and that may be a valid complaint. (Action movies need to go back to 90 minutes or so.)

Yes, some of this movie is very predictable, but it has more heart than most action movies can muster. I enjoyed it. Though I didn't sit down and give it my undivided attention. I don't do that much anymore. I had it on while I was doing other things... surfing the web, answering emails, etc.

And given the state of the drek coming out of Hollywood these days, older movies are looking better and better.

This is a small scene from the movie that I particularly like. Christopher Walken is wonderful as Creasy's friend telling the police about his friend; Creasy's art is death.