Poster © 20th Century Fox. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Crime & Drama
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 26 mins
ReleasedOctober 4, 2004
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorTony Scott
StarringDenzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Christopher Walken
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Man on Fire (2004)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
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| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
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| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Man on Fire's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Crime & Drama |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 04/18/2004 (Westwood, California premiere); 04/23/2004 (U.S.); 10/04/2004 (U.K.) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 26 mins |
| Budget | $60–70M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Man on Fire (1980 novel) by A. J. Quinnell |
| Country | United States, United Kingdom |
| Language | English, Spanish |
| Man on Fire's Interests | |
| General | Mexico City, swim meets, stopwatches, a well-worn Bible, kidnapping insurance policies. |
| Music | Harry Gregson-Williams, with a few Nine Inch Nails songs mixed into the soundtrack. |
| Movies | Man on Fire (1987), the first adaptation. Taken (2008), same protective energy. |
| Television | Man on Fire, the 2026 Netflix series. Same novel, new Creasy. |
| Heroes | Pita Ramos (Dakota Fanning). Out-talked the quietest man in Mexico City. |
| Man on Fire's Crew | |
| Director | Tony Scott |
| Writers | Brian Helgeland |
| Producers | Lucas Foster, Arnon Milchan, Tony Scott |
| Cinematography | Paul Cameron |
| Music | Harry Gregson-Williams |
| Edited By | Christian Wagner |
| Production | Fox 2000 Pictures, New Regency Productions, Scott Free Productions |
| Distributed By | 20th Century Fox |
Swim practice is where Man on Fire peaks. Denzel Washington’s Creasy, a worn-out bodyguard who wants zero conversation, ends up timing a little girl’s laps with a stopwatch, and Dakota Fanning pulls a smile out of him he clearly didn’t plan on. That first hour is a real friendship, and it’s lovely. Then the job goes wrong, and the movie becomes a long, grim revenge tour. Tony Scott edits it like he’s afraid you’ll blink: flash frames, shaky zooms, subtitles that jump around the screen. At 146 minutes it wears you down. Critics landed at 39% while IMDb users gave it a 7.7, and you can feel both numbers. Christopher Walken gets a few quiet scenes that hit harder than any explosion. A 7.2 because Denzel and Fanning make you care enough to sit through the parts that don’t deserve it. $627 says you open the stopwatch on your phone tomorrow for no reason except this movie.
What works: Washington and Fanning build a friendship so warm and believable that the whole movie runs on it.
What doesn’t: The revenge half is long, grim and edited so frantically that it starts to feel like noise instead of tension.
Who it’s for: Denzel fans who like their thrillers with a big heart up front and can handle a heavy second half.
Spoilers
Pita is alive after all. Creasy trades himself to the kidnappers for her release, sends her running to her mother, then leaves with them and dies from his injuries soon after.
John Creasy (Denzel Washington) is a burned-out former operative with nowhere to be, until his old friend Paul Rayburn (Christopher Walken) lands him a bodyguard gig in Mexico City. The job: protect Pita Ramos (Dakota Fanning), the young daughter of businessman Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony) and his wife Lisa (Radha Mitchell), in a city where kidnapping is a business. Creasy wants zero small talk. Pita asks him endless questions, ropes him into coaching her for swim meets, and slowly gets him to care again. Tony Scott directs with every camera trick turned all the way up. One hundred forty-six minutes, one very serious bodyguard.
Anyone who needs a swim coach with a very serious face.
| Denzel Washington | John W. Creasy |
| Dakota Fanning | Lupita "Pita" Ramos |
| Marc Anthony | Samuel Ramos |
| Radha Mitchell | Lisa Ramos |
| Christopher Walken | Paul Rayburn |
| Giancarlo Giannini | Miguel Manzano |
| Mickey Rourke | Jordan Kalfus |
| Rachel Ticotin | Mariana Garcia Guerrero |
| Roberto Sosa | Daniel Sanchez |
| Jesús Ochoa | Victor Fuentes |
| Gero Camilo | Aurelio Sánchez |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 7.7 / 10 (427,494 votes) → 7.7 / 10 (427,524 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $130.8M; Domestic box office $77.9M; Opening weekend $22.8M; Profit / loss (est.) -$32.1M; Rotten Tomatoes 39%; CinemaScore A−; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 39% (166 reviews); Metacritic 47 / 100; CinemaScore A−; IMDb users 7.7 / 10 (427,494 votes); movie.guru score 5.8.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.