In world of revenge films, there are many good ones and many more horrible ones. "Man On Fire" is a very good film starring Denzel Washington (John Q) and the very young Dakota Fanning (Uptown Girls). While Denzel's character is a rehashed tragic hero in the beginning, his character is allowed to do unspeakable evil to other people to feed his revenge. This is something you do not see in movies which aren't horror flicks.

Washington plays Creasy, his last name, a retired Special Forces man whose job was counterintelligence and counter-terrorism--a hot new job our tragic heroes have in Hollywood these days. Creasy is hired by Samuel and Lisa, played by Marc Anthony--JLo's most current husband--and Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black), to protect their daughter Pita (Fanning). They live in Mexico City, and Samuel is rich. People would do anything to get his money.

At first Creasy is cold to Pita and wants to treat her as a package to protect. At this point in the film, he is still drinking heavily, and he's not able to cope with the fact he has killed many people. However, Pita, being as cute as she is, warms his heart, and eventually he becomes a protector and her "Creasy Bear." To quote Christopher Walken (Catch Me If You Can), who plays Creasy's military buddy Rayburn, "She gave him a reason to live again."

Well, Pita gets kidnapped, and Creasy almost gets shot to death during the kidnapping. While Creasy is recovering, Samuel uses his lawyer Jordan, played by Mickey Rourke (Angel Heart), to try and negotiate for her release involving money. At the money transfer, the plan backfires, and the kidnapper's nephew is killed. In turn, it appears Pita is also killed in retaliation.

When Creasy wakes up and discovers what has happened, he promises Lisa he will kill all those responsible for the kidnapping. Again, to quote Walken's character, "Death is his art, and he is about to create his masterpiece."

I found this movie to be very good. Denzel Washington continues to show how much he deserves his Academy Award® by creating yet another great character out of an over used Hollywood stereotype. Dakota Fanning also stole the show as the adorable Pita, who is much smarter than her age. I also enjoyed Mickey Rourke and Christopher Walken. Marc Anthony and Radha Mitchell do an adequate job, but they could have been better.

The one aspect I do find enjoyable, in the sense that Hollywood almost never does this, is the complete and realistic violence Creasy creates when trying to get to the bottom of the kidnapping. Quite often in these revenge movies, the violence is not realistic--see "Commando" with Arnold Schwarzenegger, or the violence isn't that violent. This movie goes out of its way to show Creasy's inhumanity when he was in the military. I found this to be interesting, and the animal in me enjoyed what he was doing to characters whom deserved it.

This movie is very good, and I wish I had seen it in the movie theaters. I hope you enjoy it too.

Brian - the Naked Gun