Reception
Leonard Klady of the Los Angeles Times said that the film's script "limps along as badly as its protagonist" and that the film "is simply cold-comfort movie-going." Michael Spies of the Houston Chronicle said that the film "not only lacks emotion, it lacks wit and cool. It just has lots of atmosphere." Caryn James of The New York Times said that the film "always seems about to slip into unconsciousness." Lloyd Sachs of the Chicago Sun-Times said "Unfortunately, when it's required to make sense, "Man on Fire" doesn't. Which is too bad, because Glenn's strong physical and emotional presence deserves better. All things considered, it's one of the best things he's done." Eleanor Ringel of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said that the film "burns itself out well before it's done" even though Scott Glenn "manages to strike a few sparks along the way." John H. Richardson of the Los Angeles Daily News said that Man on Fire, "a pretentious revenge picture." He argued that since the film is "basically just another "Death Wish", directed with the crawling elegiac pace and visual luxury of a big-budget European art film", it demonstrates "the worst of both worlds." Desmond Ryan of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who gave the film two stars, said "Man on Fire is an extremely empty film" and "For all the movie's handsome gloss, I doubt if we are missing much."
Bill Kaufman of Newsday said that the film was "uspenseful, with some exciting moments despite the choppy direction." Kaufman argued that the film "plods along for its first half-hour or so, swelling too long" on the relationship between Creasy and Sam, but " things pick up, and the movie's tempo changes dramatically" when Sam's kidnapping occurs, and "only then does the picture come into its own as a suspense film with some taut moments." Kaufman said that people who like action films would find Man on Fire entertaining.
According to the Times of Malta obituary of A. J. Quinnell, he and the cinema-going public were not satisfied with the film. Quinnell said that the film "was so bad it became a cult movie in a European country. The director had never read the book and when I travelled to Paris to see the finished product I couldn't recognise anything I wrote." Quinnell was much happier with the 2004 version of film, which was a major box office success. Sachs said that he consulted a young expert of A.J. Quinnell books about the film, and that the individual said "About all they kept was the title. What garbage!" except that the individual did not use the word "garbage."
Read more about this topic: Man On Fire (1987 Film)
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