Man on Fire (2004 film)

Man on Fire
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tony Scott
Screenplay by	Brian Helgeland
Based on	Man on Fire by A. J. Quinnell
Produced by	Lucas Foster Arnon Milchan Tony Scott
Starring	Denzel Washington Dakota Fanning Christopher Walken Giancarlo Giannini Radha Mitchell Marc Anthony Rachel Ticotin Mickey Rourke
Cinematography	Paul Cameron
Edited by	Christian Wagner
Music by	Harry Gregson-Williams Lisa Gerrard
Production companies	Regency Enterprises Scott Free Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	April 23, 2004 (2004-04-23)
Running time	146 minutes
Countries	United States United Kingdom[1]
Languages	English Spanish
Budget	$70 million
Box office	$130.3 million

Man on Fire is a 2004 action thriller film^[2] directed by Tony Scott from a screenplay by Brian Helgeland, and based on the 1980 novel of the same name by A. J. Quinnell. The novel had previously been adapted into a feature film in 1987. In this film, Denzel Washington portrays John Creasy, a despondent, alcoholic former U.S. Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance Captain and CIA Special Activities Division officer – turned bodyguard, who goes on a revenge rampage after his charge, nine-year-old Lupita "Pita" Ramos (Dakota Fanning), is abducted in Mexico City. The supporting cast includes Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin and Mickey Rourke.

A modest box office success, the film received mixed reviews, but has garnered a cult following over the years.

Plot[]

Former CIA SAD/SOG officer John W. Creasy comes to Mexico to visit his old friend, Paul Rayburn. Rayburn convinces him to take a bodyguard position, and he is offered one by Samuel Ramos, Mexico City automaker. His young daughter Lupita "Pita" Ramos requires a bodyguard for her kidnapping insurance policy to take effect.

Creasy struggles with alcoholism, burnout, and guilt over his actions with the CIA. When trying to commit suicide, the bullet in his gun misfires. He eventually focuses more on his job, bonding with Pita. Noticing Pita, a swimmer, becomes startled by the starter gun at her swim meets, he begins to coach her. She learns to react to the starter gun, diving into the water without flinching, eventually winning a meet.

One day, while waiting for Pita outside of her piano lesson, Creasy notices a car with two men circling the area, and two Federal Police officers block the street. As Pita emerges, he yells at her to run, but she freezes. The car pulls up and the men attempt to grab Pita, but he fires his gun in the air, causing her to run away. Creasy attempts to fend off the attackers, killing three, and wounding a fourth, but is critically wounded himself. Pita runs back to him, but is then abducted by the remaining kidnappers.

While recovering from his injuries, AFI agent Miguel Manzano has Creasy relocated to a veterinarian clinic, to protect him from the corrupt police. When he regains consciousness, he is questioned by Manzano, but refuses to divulge any information. He then meets reporter Mariana Garcia Guerrero, who offers to help him investigate.

Pita's ransom drop fails when the kidnappers are ambushed by rival criminals. The kidnappers' leader, "The Voice," is enraged at his nephew's death during the botched drop. Holding the Ramoses responsible, he informs Pita's mother Lisa that Pita will be lost to her and Samuel forever as retribution. Creasy uses this to wage war on the kidnapping ring and police corruption responsible for Pita's death.

He tracks down, interrogates, and kills the getaway driver, followed by middle man "Jersey Boy", and Lt. Victor Fuentes, who coordinated the drop. From Fuentes, Creasy learns most of the ransom money had been stolen before the ambush at the drop and that Jordan Kalfus, Samuel's lawyer who suggested kidnapping insurance, loaded the money into Samuel's drop vehicle. At Kalfus’ home, Creasy discovers that he is decapitated and finds a fax with bank account information leading to Samuel.

Creasy confronts Samuel and Lisa. Samuel explains that Kalfus recommended arranging a kidnapping so he could claim the insurance payout and pay the debts his father had left him alongside a ruined auto empire. They were promised Pita would be unharmed. When the drop went bad, Samuel blamed Kalfus for Pita's death, killing him in a rage. Lisa, unaware of Samuel's involvement, angrily tells Creasy to "kill him or (she) will". He leaves Samuel a gun and the bullet he previously intended to commit suicide with. Remorseful, Samuel loads the gun and shoots himself in the head.

Creasy learns from Guerrero the ATM card he recovered earlier is linked to a man living on the edge of the city. Manzano's people, acting on Guerrero's information, infiltrate his home, finding a photo of "The Voice". Guerrero runs a story in her paper, revealing the ringleader is Daniel Sanchez. The ATM card belongs to Daniel's brother Aurelio.

Creasy breaks into Aurelio's, taking him prisoner, despite being shot in the chest in the process. He then calls Daniel, threatening to kill his family unless he turn himself in. However, Daniel reveals that Pita is still alive, and offers to trade her for his brother and him. Creasy accepts.

Arriving at the overpass meeting place and seeing Pita, he crosses it on foot, meeting her in the middle. He says goodbye, assuring her he loves her before sending her to Lisa. Creasy and Aurelio get into Daniel's car, but he succumbs to his wounds and blood loss in transit. Meanwhile, Manzano tracks Daniel down and kills him, stating in the official report that Daniel died during the course of arrest.

Cast[]

• Denzel Washington as John W. Creasy, a former CIA operative and U.S. Marine Force Recon Captain
• Dakota Fanning as Guadalupe 'Lupita' (Pita) Ramos
• Radha Mitchell as Lisa Ramos. Lisa originates from Houston, Texas.^[3] Eric Harrison of the Houston Chronicle described Lisa as an "American trophy wife with a Southern accent that seems to come and go."^[4]
• Christopher Walken as Paul Rayburn, who runs a security firm in Mexico. Marlon Brando was originally considered for the role, but his poor health (which led to his death) prevented him from taking the role.
• Marc Anthony as Samuel Ramos
• Giancarlo Giannini as Miguel Manzano, director of the AFI. Tony Scott stated "Giancarlo loves women, as did this character."^[5]
• Mickey Rourke as Jordan Kalfus, Samuel Ramos' lawyer. Kalfus and Samuel Ramos's father were best friends, and therefore Kalfus has a close relationship with Samuel. Mickey Rourke stated that Kalfus has "a responsibility to his father, to him, to look out for his well-being."^[6] Therefore, Kalfus "[wants] to be there for him" when Ramos "gets his head underwater a little bit".^[6]
• Rachel Ticotin as Mariana Garcia Guerrero, a reporter for the Diario Reforma
• Roberto Sosa as Daniel Sanchez,^[7] "The Voice". He is based on a real kidnapper, Daniel Arizmendi López.^[8]
• Jesús Ochoa as Victor Fuentes, a lieutenant in the Anti-Kidnapping Division of the Federal Judicial Police and the head of the criminal "La Hermandad" syndicate
• Carmen Salinas as Guardian three
• Gero Camilo as Aurelio Sanchez. Based on Aurelio Arizmendi López, the brother of Daniel Arizmendi López.^[9]
• Rosa María Hernández as Maria Rosas Sanchez, wife of The Voice.
• Charles Paraventi as Jersey Boy, proprietor of the rave in Neza and an accomplice to Pita's kidnapping.
• Mario Zaragoza as Jorge Gonzalez, a Federal Judicial Policeman and member of the criminal "La Hermandad" syndicate, who physically kidnaps Pita off the street

Production[]

Tony Scott, the film's director, had tried to adapt the 1980 source novel, by A. J. Quinnell, into a film in 1983. Journalist Paul Davies theorized that movie producers likely believed that Scott, whose only directorial work as of the time was 1983's The Hunger, lacked the experience to direct this as his second film.

The novel was first adapted into the 1987 film Man on Fire, starring Scott Glenn as Creasy. This movie, like the novel, was set in Italy, then a major center of kidnapping.

When a remake was first under consideration, producer Arnon Milchan (who also produced the 1987 version) looked at Michael Bay and Antoine Fuqua to direct, before asking Scott if he was still interested.^[10]

20th Century Fox wanted the film to still be set in Italy.^[10] An early draft of the script was set in Naples, with early reporting suggesting that the Mexico City filming was an odd stand in for Naples.^[11] 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.^[10] Mexico City became the setting of the 2004 film because Mexico City had a high kidnapping rate,^[12] and due to other reasons.^[10] As a result, the character Rika Balletto was renamed Lisa Martin Ramos, and Pinta Balletto was renamed Lupita "Pita" Ramos. Ettore Balletto became Samuel Ramos. Robert De Niro was originally offered the role of Creasy.^[11] Prior to his death, Marlon Brando was the original choice to play Rayburn.^[13]

Reception[]

Man on Fire opened in the U.S. on April 23, 2004, in 2,980 theaters and grossed $22,751,490 with an average of $7,634 and ranking No. 1 at the box office. The film's widest release was 2,986 theaters and it ended up earning $77,911,774 in North America and $52,381,940 internationally for a total of $130,293,714 worldwide, above its $70 million production budget.^[14] The film was successful in the U.S. home video market, grossing more than $123 million in DVD and VHS rentals and sales in U.S.^[15]

The film has a rating of 38% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 169 reviews, with an average rating of 7.65/10. The consensus states, "Man on Fire starts out well, but goes over the top in the violent second half."^[16] The film also has a score of 47 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 36 reviews.^[17]

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.^[18]

A. J. Quinnell had a favorable reception to this adaptation, mainly because the film used many of the book's lines.^[12] Quinnell said that usually screenwriters "like to leave their mark on the product."^[19] 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."^[19] Kevin Freese of the Foreign Military Studies Office stated that "it appears that the allusion" of the fictional Sánchez brothers with the real Arizmendi brothers "escaped the comprehension of much of the audience."^[8]

Awards and Nominations[]

Soundtrack[]

The cut "Smiling", from the soundtrack composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, has been adopted as the theme of a number of television commercials for Omega Watches in 2012 to 2013. The soundtrack containing 20 tracks, was composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, and was released on July 27, 2004.^[20]

The film heavily features the work of Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor is credited as "Musical Consultant". The movie features six Nine Inch Nails songs. ^[21]

Remake[]

In 2005, a Hindi remake of the film by director Apoorva Lakhia, called Ek Ajnabee, was released. It starred Amitabh Bachchan as John W. Creasy (renamed Suryaveer "Surya" Singh).^[22] The same year, it was also remade in Tamil language as Aanai starring Arjun Sarja.

See also[]

• Cinema of the United States
• List of American films of 2004

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Man on Fire (2004 film)

• Man on Fire official website (Archive)
• Man on Fire at IMDb
• Man on Fire at the TCM Movie Database
• Man on Fire at Rotten Tomatoes
• Man on Fire at Box Office Mojo
• Man on Fire at the Internet Movie Firearms Database