Yet Another Movie Review

I've been doing a fair bit of movie reviewing lately as I really do enjoy movies. If you don't like it then that's too bloody bad. Get your own blog and complain there. If you do like my movie reviews I want to bear your child...or I would like to...you know...if I could.

Moving on...

Man on Fire. This is definitely one of the best, artistic movies I've seen in a long while. This is a movie I actually bought. That's right. The poor student bought a DVD. Now I'm living on the street fighting rabid dogs for a piece of meat for supper. Get over it.

Creasy (Denzel Washington) is an ex special agent type, military, green beret, blows things up kinda guy with a drinking problem. He's been wandering around aimlessly caring for nothing in particular. He comes to visit an old friend (Christopher Walken) and ends up with a job as a body guard for Pita (Dakota Fanning). Pita breathes fresh life into Creasy and gives him a reason to live. Something he's been without for quite some time.

At the peak of their relationship, Pita's kidnapped for ransom and Creasy is shot and nearly killed. He then awakes only to find out that everything that could have possibly gone wrong at the payoff did go wrong, and Pita is dead. He becomes rather pissed off. So pissed off he vows to kill every person who had anything to do with the kidnapping and death of Pita.

This, in my mind, is a decent story line. You get the lovey dovey touching moments between Creasy and Pita, then you come to the insane rage and revenge Creasy expells on the baddies. Damn I love a good vigilante revenge flick. Especially one that caters to everyone. This is even a flick you can watch with your girlfriend. She'll be taken in by the touching moments between Creasy and Pita, and you can stay tuned for explosions, gunfire and mayhem.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, this is an artistic film. The camera work, scenery, and visualisations are all very appropriate and well thought out. My favourite visual addition, however, has to be the captions. Many of the characters speak Spanish and the English translations are not placed along the bottom of the screen as usual. They appear next to characters, in the middle of the screen, or in different areas of the screen at once. That, and they also fade in and/or out or appear and disappear in non conventional ways. Sometimes the captions aren't necessarily a translation, but, an important point or repeated theme that the director wishes to emphasize. Crazy caption madness.

My favourite artistic addition, that actually made me want to see this movie from the start, is the soundtrack. I don't know if it's a soundtrack I'd run out and buy or listen to on its own, for that matter, but it suits the movie well. Also, I'm trying not to be biased as the main musical theme throughout the movie is a track by Nine Inch Nails (The track after which this blog is named). I love Nine Inch Nails, especially their instrumental work. It blends well with this film.

I've already told you I've purchased this movie so, obviously, I recommend it. I warn you, though it does have some very heartfelt moments, there is still some rather extreme violence. The two seem to balance out well, and, even if you don't like the touchy feely stuff you'll get by on the action. On the other hand, if you don't like the violence you can cover your head with a blanket until the scene is over (Right Joanne?). Overall, the acting is good, the art is good, the sound is good, the plot is good, the movie is just plain good all over. The only drawback might be that the movie is 2.5 hours long and perhaps could have been a little shorter by cutting out some of the artsy fartsy stuff. You should at least rent this bad boy when you have the time.

Don't let your kids watch it.