Denzel Washington has dispensed plenty of justice during his lenghty and illustrious career as one of cinema’s favorite action heroes, but very rarely has he done so with as much sadistic glee as he showcased in Tony Scott’s relentlessly violent Man on Fire.
That’s not to say it’s a terrible movie by any means, but it arguably doesn’t rank among Denzel’s finest runner and gunners, and it definitely isn’t his finest collaboration with Scott. The difference in opinion between fans and critics is there for all to see, though, with the roaring rampage of revenge holding an 89 percent user rating on Rotten Tomatoes, miles ahead of the 39 percent critical score.
There are few things viewers find more regularly palatable than watching the effortlessly charismatic leading man take out reams of interchangeable goons in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, which has been proven true yet again by Man on Fire‘s current renaissance on streaming.
It might be almost two decades old, but John Creasy’s quest to recover a kidnapped little girl from the clutches of her captors has roared back into life by securing a spot on the iTunes global charts, as per FlixPatrol.
Some didn’t care too much for the wince-inducing violence, but Scott’s signature visual flair and a typically committed central performance from Washington left crowds on tenterhooks when it first raced to a box office haul of $130 million back in 2004, with Man on Fire setting the on-demand charts alight once again to further reinforce the legendary actor’s continued popularity.