Movies: Man on Fire

The UF law school has an interesting movie section on the second floor. There are plenty of "lawyer" movies, including "The Firm," "The Client," and "To Kill a Mockingbird." And then there are the movies that I assume have a rather tangential relationship to the practice of law - films like "Flightplan" and "Man on Fire." I checked out the latter since I had never seen it, and have been puzzling over its inclusion in the library ever since.

"Man on Fire" stars Denzel "Moar Oscars Plz" Washington as John Creasy, a role that he is becoming increasingly comfortable with - the hard-nosed killer operating at the edge of the law (see "Training Day" and "American Gangster" for further examples). It also features the eerily precocious Dakota Fanning, whose very presence in the movie almost gives away the ending. Anyhoo, Creasy is hired to protect a little girl in Mexico who is subsequently kidnapped, and as you might imagine, all hell breaks loose.

The resulting mess of a movie follows a simple formula:
1. Creasy finds someone connected to the kidnapping

2. Creasy tortures him at gunpoint for information

3. Creasy executes him, usually finding some way to immolate the victim in the process (Get it? Man on fire.).

4. Goto step 1

It's a formulaic and contrived process to watch, and the movie is overlong and peters out towards the end.

Rating: 4/10