Man on Fire (2004 film)

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Man on Fire

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tony Scott
Produced by Lucas Foster
Arnon Milchan
Tony Scott
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland
Based on Man on Fire 
by A.J. Quinnell
Starring Denzel Washington
Dakota Fanning
Christopher Walken
Giancarlo Giannini
Radha Mitchell
Marc Anthony
Rachel Ticotin
Mickey Rourke
Music by Harry Gregson-Williams
Lisa Gerrard
Cinematography Paul Cameron
Editing by Christian Wagner
Studio Regency Enterprises
Scott Free Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • April 23, 2004 (2004-04-23)
Running time 146 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Spanish
Budget $70 million
Box office $130,293,714

Man on Fire is a 2004 American thriller film, and the second adaptation of A. J. Quinnell's 1980 novel of the same name; the first film based on the novel was released in 1987. The 2004 film adaptation was directed by Tony Scott, from a screenplay written by Brian Helgeland.

Man on Fire stars Denzel Washington as John Creasy, a despondent former CIA operative/Force Recon Marine officer turned bodyguard, who goes on a revenge rampage after his charge, nine-year-old Pita Ramos (Dakota Fanning), is abducted in Mexico. The supporting cast includes Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin and Mickey Rourke.

Plot

In 2003, an alcoholic, burnt-out former U.S. Marine Corps special operator and Central Intelligence Agency officer John Creasy (Denzel Washington) looks for work and reunites with old friend and comrade Paul Rayburn (Christopher Walken), who runs a security firm in Mexico. Because of the extremely high rate of kidnappings in Mexico City for ransom money, businessman Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony) hires Creasy through Rayburn to guard his nine-year-old daughter "Pita" (Dakota Fanning), intending to keep him on for only a short period in order to renew his kidnap and ransom insurance on Pita. Creasy suffers from alcoholism, apparent depression, and severe guilt as a result of his past work as a counterinsurgency fighter and professional assassin, and so works for Samuel at a rate far below what his experience would command. At first Creasy distances himself socially from Pita, but the two soon develop a friendship, which allows Creasy to overcome his demons and to act as a mentor and surrogate father-figure to the girl.

After a piano lesson, Pita is abducted in public; Creasy kills four of the kidnappers (two of which are corrupt cops), but he is shot multiple times and collapses. The Ramoses agree to deliver a dead drop ransom of US$10 million per the instructions of "La Voz" ("The Voice") (Roberto Sosa), the mastermind of the kidnapping ring. Samuel's attorney, Jordan Kalfus (Mickey Rourke), arranges for the ransom money to be collected from Samuel's kidnapping insurance policy, then arranges for it to be delivered to the kidnappers. The drop, however, is ambushed by members of a different Mexican crime syndicate, including corrupt police, several of the ring's members are killed, and the money is stolen, resulting in The Voice notifying the Ramoses that Pita will be killed.

Creasy leaves the hospital before fully recovering from his wounds and vows to Pita's mother Lisa (Radha Mitchell) that he will kill everyone involved in Pita's abduction. Rayburn helps him get weapons, C4, detonators, sawed-off shotgun, including an RPG and a variety of hand guns. With the help of Mariana Guerrero (Rachel Ticotin), a journalist investigating the kidnappings, and Miguel Manzano (Giancarlo Giannini), an agent of the Agencia Federal de Investigación (AFI), Creasy begins methodically hunting down and killing those involved in Pita's abduction. Each person traced leads Creasy to the next by providing vital information, once they have provided this information to Creasy, the majority are tortured and killed. The corrupt policeman who stole the money from the ransom drop reveals that the bags only contained $2.5 million.

Investigating further, Creasy finds Kalfus dead and evidence of Samuel's desperate financial condition, and confronts him with Lisa present. Samuel confesses to Creasy and Lisa that he agreed to Kalfus' plan to stage Pita's kidnapping to pay off business debts by fraudulently collecting the insurance money. He planned to keep $5 million for himself, pay Kalfus $2.5 million and the kidnappers would receive $2.5 million for the staged kidnapping. He also confesses that when Pita was not returned, he killed Kalfus. Creasy leaves a pistol and bullet (one that he had previously used to attempt suicide but that had not fired) for Samuel, who then commits suicide with it.

After some continued digging based on information provided by Creasy's targets, Mariana writes an article revealing The Voice's identity as Daniel Sánchez. Creasy shows up at Daniel's ex-wife's house and is shot by his brother Aurelio (Gero Camilo), who then tries unsuccessfully to escape. Creasy calls Daniel to threaten to kill his brother, and Daniel reveals that Pita is still alive and offers to free her if Creasy surrenders himself with Aurelio. Creasy agrees and he and Lisa meet at the exchange site where the kidnappers release Pita as Creasy releases Aurelio. Creasy and Pita share a tearful goodbye before he surrenders himself and is driven away by the kidnappers, presumably to be tortured and killed. En route, however, he loses consciousness as a result of his gunshot injury and appears to be at peace. Daniel Sánchez is later killed by Miguel Manzano during an AFI raid.

Cast

Production

Tony Scott, the director, tried to have a version of the film made in 1983, but since the film would have been his second after The Hunger, Paul Davies, a journal article author, theorized that movie producers would have believed that Scott lacked the experience to direct the film. At the time Italy was still a major center of kidnapping in the world. Scott said that Arnon Milchan, the producer of the 1987 film, asked Scott if he was still interested in producing a version of Man on Fire, as Milchan still owned the rights to the series.[1]

20th Century Fox wanted the film to be set in Italy.[1] An early draft of the film script was set in Naples.[2] Scott argued that if the setting would be Italy, then the film would have to be a period piece, since by the 2000s kidnappings became a rare occurrence in Italy.[1] Mexico City became the setting of the 2004 film because Mexico City had a high kidnapping rate,[3] and due to other reasons.[1] As a result, the character Rika Balletto was renamed to Lisa Martin Ramos, and Pinta Balletto was renamed to Lupita "Pita" Ramos. Ettore Balletto became Samuel Ramos. Robert De Niro was originally offered the role of Creasy.[2]

Reception

The film grossed $77,911,774 in North America and $52,381,940 in other territories, totaling $130,293,714 worldwide.[4] According to Rotten Tomatoes 39% of reviews (from 160 samples) from critics were positive.[5] Conversely, 90% of reviews from audience members were positive.[5] It is rated as "Mixed or average reviews" on Metacritic with a metascore of 47 out of 100 on metacritic, based on 336 reviews.[6] Paul Davies, a journal article author, said that the critical reception to Man on Fire in the United States was "somewhat less than kind" because critics did not like the vigilantism that Creasy uses. Davies argues that "most critics missed" Creasy not taking "sadistic pleasure" in the killings since he kills to get information to get to all of the people involved in the kidnapping of Pita Ramos, and does not like harming innocent parties.[7]

A. J. Quinnell had a favorable reception to this adaptation, mainly because the film used many of the book's lines.[3] Quinnell said that usually screenwriters "like to leave their mark on the product."[8] Quinnell added that even though he usually dislikes film adaptations of books, the writers "did a good job with Man On Fire and I loved the chemistry between Creasy and the girl" and "When I first heard Denzel was playing the part of Creasy I missed a couple of heartbeats but he played the part brilliantly. The film is violent and if the anger is not portrayed properly, the result can be awful."[8]

This film was adapted by Indian director Apoorva Lakhia for his 2005 film Ek Ajnabee.[9]

See also


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Davies, Paul. Ed: Nancy Billias. "Be not overcome by evil but overcome evil with good': The Theology of Evil in Man on Fire." Posted in Producing and Promoting Evil. Rodopi Publishers, 2010. 221. Retrieved on 30 March 2011. ISBN 90-420-2939-0, ISBN 978-90-420-2939-2.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Stax Report: Script Review of Man on Fire". IGN. May 8, 2003. Retrieved on January 18, 2011. "Creasy is hired to serve as a bodyguard for the Balletto family of Naples (although since the film is being shot in Mexico City perhaps the story's locale has been changed since this draft was written)." and "Rika Balletto (Mitchell), the beautiful wife of struggling but well-to-do businessman Ettore, convinces her aloof husband to hire protection for their precocious young daughter Pinta (Fanning)."
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Social and Personal Obituaries". (Archive) Times of Malta. 14 July 2005. Retrieved on 28 March 2011.
  4. ↑ "Man on Fire (2004)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved May 31, 2010. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Man on Fire". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved March 19, 2011. 
  6. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/movie/man-on-fire
  7. ↑ Davies, Paul. Ed: Nancy Billias. "Be not overcome by evil but overcome evil with good': The Theology of Evil in Man on Fire." Posted in Producing and Promoting Evil. Rodopi Publishers, 2010. 222. Retrieved on 30 March 2011. ISBN 90-420-2939-0, ISBN 978-90-420-2939-2.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Massa, Ariadne. "Gozo based author sees first book become a bestseller". The Times of Malta. 10 November 2004. Retrieved on 28 March 2012.
  9. ↑ Vijayan, Vipin. "Amitabh rocks in Ek Ajnabee". Rediff.com. Retrieved on March 27, 2012.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Man on Fire (2004 film)
Man on Fire and Creasy series
Novels by A. J. Quinnell
  • Man on Fire (1981)
  • The Perfect Kill (1992)
  • The Blue Ring (1993)
  • Black Horn (1994)
  • Message From Hell (1996)
Films
Films directed by Tony Scott
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