Denzel Washington…wow. He is one of the best actors, of our times. Dakota Fanning proves she can stand up with the big guns!
Well done!
of Walken playing Walken. Hasn’t happened yet, he was great. There were a couple of ‘Dirty Harry’ type catch phrases that kinda dissapointed me; ‘I just arrange the meeting’ and the rocket launcher. The little girl was great, Denzel truly was a ‘Man on Fire’. Overall I give it a solid ‘B’.
I heard the little girl actor on the Radio- don’t know her name, and am too lazy to look it up atm. No idea what other movies she played in, missed that part, but they mentioned that she was 10 years old. I have to say that the interview that she gave on the radio convinced me to see the movie and see what kind of acting she can do. On the radio she sounded especially precocious, and probably more than gifted intelligently. She gave a better interview than a full grown adult actor/actress. None of it sounded especially scripted either.
What does this have to do with this thread? Dunno, but I am going to go see the movie just because of the interview. Well, that and I agree that Denzel Washington is one of the greatest actors. 
I thought this movie rocked as well, even though it’s getting panned by the critics.
I thought the cinematography was interesting (sort of MTV-generation), the “spanglish” subtitles were cool, and the actors were all great. (Although I thought that Christopher Walken was underused).
…and…
When Denzel finally says (paraphrased) “I’m going to do what I do best… I’m going to kill everyone involved.” And he says it so quiet and matter-of-fact.
I was like fuck yeah. This rocks.
Even though they took forever to establish the relationship between Denzel and Dakota, once he got pissed it really made sense. And he kicked some ass.
BTW when he cut off the guy’s fingers and then cauterized them with the cigarette lighter - that was a cool scene.
- Peter Wiggen
I saw on TV a portion of an interview with Denzel Washington, who said that only twice in his career has he just stood and watched in awe as an actor prepared their role for a movie. “The first was Gene Hackman,” he said, “and the other was Dakota Fanning…and it pisses me off.” Big smile.
The kid can act.
I haven’t seen it yet, but I will. What clinched it? Radha Mitchell. Anything else is just gravy.
I’m really looking forward to Dakota Fanning, after all the reviews.
Just got back from seeing it, and it was great! Not overly thrilled by the cinematography, and some of the subtitles didn’t quite make it onto the screen, but it was definitely an unusual use of subtitles…never seen 'em change sizes for emphasis before! Denzel of course was wonderful, and I wish there had been more time together between Dakota and Denzel…the kid is good! Only problem was that her character, Pita, didn’t seem to have one drop of her father’s blood in her, and their rapport didn’t feel quite genuine. Mexico City comes off as a place I would never want to visit–even the well-to-do areas were just…cluttered and claustophobic.
Haven’t seen the new one. The original, with Joe Pesci and Scott Glenn, was stylish but mediocre IMHO. I’m rather curious why, of all films, they would remake that particular one.
Original listing from IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093489/
- Tamerlane
Okay, I’m going to ask a really stupid question. Was it based on a true story? 
No -
It’s based on a book by A.J. Quinnell of the same title. You can find it online at amazon.com, or at your local bookseller. The book is fairly different - e.g. set in Italy, different bad guys, etc.
- Peter Wiggen