(Credits: Far Out / 20th Century Fox)
They say revenge is a dish best served cold – but for my money, it’s actually best served in visually frenetic, ultra-violent style at the hands of Denzel Washington in 2004’s Man on Fire. In fact, i’d go as far as to declare Tony Scott’s searing action masterpiece as the greatest revenge movie ever made.
As a storytelling engine, revenge is much, much older than cinema. The Bible is full of people seeking vengeance—such as Lamech in the Book of Genesis or Esau plotting to murder Jacob. Greek and Norse myths were built on revenge tales involving the Gods. Hell, even classic literature such as Wuthering Heights is built around Heathcliff enacting an elaborate revenge scheme on the Earnshaw and Linton families.
In more modern times, revenge has proven to be one of the most enduring cinematic conceits. Charles Bronson embraced vigilantism in Death Wish after his wife was murdered and his daughter raped. In Taken, Liam Neeson used his special skills to track down the men who kidnapped his daughter. Keanu Reeves cut a bloody swathe through the Russian mob to avenge the dead dog his ailing wife gave him in John Wick. In Promising Young Woman, Carey Mulligan turned the tables on the men responsible for her friend’s suicide.
All these movies speak to something inside us that feels like revenge can be justified in the right circumstances. In our real lives, we may never go on rip-roaring rampages of vengeance to get justice for a dead loved one, but there’s no doubt about the visceral thrill we get watching characters on-screen do just that. Sometimes, bad people need to be punished, and if society can’t – or isn’t willing to – do that, we can’t help root for a character who steps outside the law. Indeed, the inherent question of whether these actions are actually right – or moral, or appropriate – only adds to the messy appeal of these stories.
Man on Fire does a truly incredible job of putting the audience in the headspace of the avenging protagonist, and this is why it is so powerful. Washington plays John Creasy, an alcoholic former CIA officer now plying his trade as a bodyguard. He is assigned to protect Lupita Ramos, the daughter of a Mexico City car manufacturer – and when she is taken, he kills his way across the city to rescue her and find some redemption in the process.
If that plot sounds slightly rote, then well, it is. The brilliance of Man on Fire is all in the execution carried out by Scott, Washington, and Dakota Fanning, who is a genuine revelation as Pita. She and Washington have undeniable screen chemistry, and because Scott lets their relationship develop and breathe for a long time before anything bad happens, the audience grows attached. When she is finally ripped from Creasy’s grasp, we feel as despondent as he does. We liked that girl. We liked what she was bringing out in Creasy. And the thought of her being hurt is almost too much to take.
Once Pita is taken and Creasy goes into avenging angel mode, Scott is then able to do what he does best. As one of Hollywood’s great stylists, he applies all his tricks to the images, with the camera whipping and zooming with reckless abandon, all while the juddering, choppy editing quickens the pulse and the saturated colours almost leap off the screen. The violence in the movie is harsh, bloody, and not for the squeamish, but Scott shoots it all with such mastery that it’s never off-putting.
The movie proceeds methodically, with each brutal act leading Creasy to his next victim. When he finally gets to an unforgettable showdown on a bridge, we know he’s not going to make it out alive. But that isn’t what matters. Creasy wants to give his life to Pita – and somehow, that seems fitting instead of sad.
Washington brings a bruised humanity to Creasy and shares some truly unique scenes with Christopher Walken, who plays an old friend and former CIA handler. Indeed, it’s Walken who gets the movie’s most memorable monologue, a speech which would have been ridiculous in the wrong hands. With Walken, though, it sounds like pure hard-boiled poetry: “A man can be an artist – in anything, food, whatever. It depends on how good he is at it. Creasy’s art is death. He’s about to paint his masterpiece.”
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