- 2,760
Well, I finally saw this movie last night, having missed it in theatres. I heard a lot about it, particularly regarding its apparently excessive violence. Overall, I thought it was quite good, and said violence did not detract from the movie at all. On the contrary, I thought it was necessary and kind of the point of the movie.
Denzel's character, John Creasy, went through a range of emotions as he moves from complete stoic patheticism, devoid of any human emotion, to resentful smiler, learning how to feel again, right back to stone-cold killer once the girl is kidnapped. Obviously Denzel is up to the challenge, as there are very few movies he doesn't look completely at home in.
The only thing I didn't like was the attention paid to the cinematography by Paul Cameron. What happens when you try to include too many camera movements and visual tricks (such as quick jumpshots, flashbacks, stuttery pans and rapid zooms) is that the viewer is forced to pay attention to how the movie is shot, instead of what the movie is about. One scene in particular, when Denzel captures one of the corrupt police officers and duct tapes his hands to the steering wheel of his car before systematically cutting off his fingers one by one, fell victim to this shortcoming. There were so many flashbacks and voice overs and cuts to shots of different scenes I had already seen that I couldn't take joy in either the misery of the police officer or Creasy's delightful revenge.
Maybe that seems like I'm a sadist and love violence, but the point of this movie was to show Denzel's character taking justice into his own hands in a country where (supposedly) most of the police force is corrupt and works to protect itself before protecting the public. So these torture scenes, mixed with the evil-looking christopher Walken telling investigators that Creasy will dole out more justice in two hours than they could in a month, are supposed to be rewarding. But the camera movements detract from this.
All in all I recommend Man On Fire. It is highly entertaining and truly gripping. Aside from the cinematography being more or less akin to the work of a rookie fresh out of film school, it's a winner.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 (8) out of 10
Denzel's character, John Creasy, went through a range of emotions as he moves from complete stoic patheticism, devoid of any human emotion, to resentful smiler, learning how to feel again, right back to stone-cold killer once the girl is kidnapped. Obviously Denzel is up to the challenge, as there are very few movies he doesn't look completely at home in.
The only thing I didn't like was the attention paid to the cinematography by Paul Cameron. What happens when you try to include too many camera movements and visual tricks (such as quick jumpshots, flashbacks, stuttery pans and rapid zooms) is that the viewer is forced to pay attention to how the movie is shot, instead of what the movie is about. One scene in particular, when Denzel captures one of the corrupt police officers and duct tapes his hands to the steering wheel of his car before systematically cutting off his fingers one by one, fell victim to this shortcoming. There were so many flashbacks and voice overs and cuts to shots of different scenes I had already seen that I couldn't take joy in either the misery of the police officer or Creasy's delightful revenge.
Maybe that seems like I'm a sadist and love violence, but the point of this movie was to show Denzel's character taking justice into his own hands in a country where (supposedly) most of the police force is corrupt and works to protect itself before protecting the public. So these torture scenes, mixed with the evil-looking christopher Walken telling investigators that Creasy will dole out more justice in two hours than they could in a month, are supposed to be rewarding. But the camera movements detract from this.
All in all I recommend Man On Fire. It is highly entertaining and truly gripping. Aside from the cinematography being more or less akin to the work of a rookie fresh out of film school, it's a winner.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 (8) out of 10
