Man on Fire

Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she's kidnapped he's consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save her life.

Critics were largely cold on Man on Fire, finding its vigilante brutality relentless and its grim tone punishing over a nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime, even as they acknowledged Denzel Washington's commanding presence and the film's propulsive action. Audiences responded far more warmly, and the gap between critical dismissal and popular enthusiasm remains the defining story of the film's reception. Some defenders argued critics misread the film's moral logic — that Creasy's violence is instrumental rather than sadistic — but that debate didn't move the needle with reviewers at the time.