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Are you afraid to let your kids play outside of your house? Well thank God that you don’t live in Mexico City where kids get kidnapped every day, if not every hour. That is where the role of John Creasy (Denzel Washington) comes in. Creasy is a military veteran who gets hired to protect the daughter of an American businessman. As the new bodyguard he slowly becomes attached to the charming girl named Pita (Dakota Fanning). Creasy is persistently haunted by his past, and is an alcoholic to boot, however he finds redemption in protecting the little girl. Despite his best effort Pita ends up getting kidnapped and Creasy goes on a rampage extracting his revenge on the kidnappers.

As would be expected, Denzel Washington delivers a powerful performance in this movie. He creates a complex yet believable character that the audience can identify with. The character Creasy starts out as a standoffish self-pitying alcoholic who transforms into a strict yet fatherly figure for Pita; then the kidnapping transforms him yet again into a cold-blooded assassin and interrogator who will stop at nothing to find the men who wronged him. Denzel is able to pull off all three transformations and emotional states without a hitch, proving yet again that he is an Oscar worthy actor. Dakota Fanning (who played Sean Penn's daughter in "I Am Sam") also does a great job playing Pita: an extremely bright girl who wins Creasy over with her persistence and charm.

This movie has a gritty look to it with fast cuts, speedy montages, and eerie flashbacks; and it fits had in had with the subject matter of the movie. Another simple, yet stimulating, effect was the use of text subtitles for translation and emphasis of key phrases in the movie. So that in a scene where the unseen and unknown kidnapper is talking on the phone with the girl’s parents you not only hear but also see the gravity of his threats. The most memorable scene is when Creasy settles on assassinating the chief of police and his weapon of choice is a hand propelled rocket launcher. I think you can guess what happens next…ka boom!

Despite Denzel’s excellent acting, and interesting topic of child kidnappings in Latin America, the way that director Tony Scott decided to end the movie was a real disappointment. Maybe it is just me, but I feel that the ending is the most important part of any movie. No matter what the plot, it is in the end that everything comes together and the point or moral the story is revealed. Unfortunately Man on Fire leaves you with more questions than answers; making the viewer quite frustrated and dissatisfied.