El fuego de la venganza

*** ¡Spoilers! *** Tony, eres un buen director de acción, pero ni siquiera con la voz de Lisa Gerrard (sospechosamente familiar) lo suficiente bueno para una historia ingeniosa sobre la redención de un hombre. Al menos en el caso de un tema así, envuelto en una ejecución excéntricamente pop. Estás fallando completamente en la construcción de historias dramáticas. Me emocionas en la primera mitad, haces que me enamore de la pequeña heroína y luego quieres que sienta catarsis de eliminar a sus verdugos sin derramar una sola lágrima por ella. Su héroe se venga, no para salvarla, sino por las mismas razones por las que Van Damme peleaba en la década de 1980. Y así, la segunda mitad de la película se convierte así en una aburrida acción segadora sin una conexión dramática con la trama anterior. El «sorprendente» remate no es más que el último clavo en un ataúd contradictorio. Pero, además de Denzel Washington y algunas secuencias de clip, El fuego de la venganza tiene un gran punto a favor que es Dakota Fanning. (02.10.2004)

Classic American Rambo revenge morality covered with the skin of a top techno-thriller form. The lemonade motif of the pursuit of justice and the pursuit of the last shudder of love in the soul of the bestial good guy didn't really irritate me, because Denzel Washington, the killer with a human face is good, and Scott even serves the loving relationship with little Pita in a tolerable way. The dumb content is clearly overridden by a selective form, a high-tech camera, perfect editing, and a clip-like incorporation of a musical undertone. Maybe if the story didn’t take itself so deadly seriously and some of the really forgettable dialogues were left out, Man on Fire would have been a very good, low-value film. Especially thanks to the directing and technical implementation, I was quite interested in the story, but I was definitely not satisfied. There's something infantile stupid about it, and Tony Scott can pull any sort of fat rabbits out of his hat, but this fact can't be disguised. A stupid action film in a selective guise with good acting. (17.02.2007)

Although I didn't believe it, Tony Scott is capable of a sensitive and unique approach. In other words, he indulges in flashy playfulness only in action scenes and when bringing together a large sad bear and the cutest film child of recent times, he lets the camera stay still and lets the atmosphere take effect. Thanks to this, sensitive moments stand out and twists are filled with emotions to the breaking point. A perfectly crafted filmmaking, created with love, to which the story naturally adds itself. 90%. (02.09.2007)

Tony Scott is back in form at last. He didn’t hesitate to incorporate epileptic editing, violence and outstanding actors into a raw story about a girl being kidnapped. With a different cast, this might have collapsed like a house of cards, but when the main protagonist is played by Denzel Washington as a devotee of the “dark side", this clearly leaves no room for any humor. Especially when revenge tastes best when it’s cold blooded, isn’t that right? (10.08.2004)

Scott overdid it, he exhibited too much for my taste. His nervous camera games were too frequent, even annoying, I would say. The simple script was not devoid of logical nonsense, but the ambiguous ending was quite a pleasant surprise. Washington repeats himself as an actor, essentially performing a variation on his Oscar-winning Training Day (you're right, sepp). It was nice to see Walken in a different than his traditionally villain role, and I was pleasantly surprised by the leading girl who gave a very convincing and natural (for a child) performance. Finally, a cool line from a conversation Washington (about to assassinate one of the bastards) has with an old man: "In the church, they say to forgive." – "Forgiveness is between them and God. It's my job to arrange the meeting.” (28.10.2004)