All seven episodes of Man on Fire are now available on Netflix.
Netflix’s Man on Fire is a competently executed but often predictable seven-episode action series elevated by the simmering lead performance of the always-compelling Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and several brutal hand-to-hand combat brawls and thrilling action set-pieces (including an early airplane chase sequence directed by Creed II’s Steven Caple Jr.).
Many viewers will be familiar with Man on Fire thanks to the 2004 movie of the same name directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington. That was actually the second adaptation of A. J. Quinnell’s 1980 novel, the first being a 1987 movie starring Scott Glenn and Joe Pesci. While Netflix’s Man on Fire bears similarities to the ’04 movie, showrunner-writer Kyle Killen has made enough alterations to the story, characters, and setting to distinguish it from past versions.
At the heart of any incarnation of Man on Fire is the relationship between bodyguard John Creasy – who struggles with PTSD, suicidal thoughts, and alcoholism as a result of his time in the military and CIA black ops – and the young person he serves to protect. In Washington’s film, his Creasy bonded with Dakota Fanning’s precocious, wide-eyed Pita Ramos; for the show, Creasy’s protectee has been aged up to teenager Poe Rayburn (Billie Boullet, who thankfully avoids making her teenage character too obnoxious even when the circumstances might allow for it).
After Poe’s family is killed in a terrorist bombing in Brazil, Abdul-Mateen’s Creasy puts his badass skills to use protecting Poe from the nefarious forces out to kill her – a plot involving political corruption in Brazil that also links back to the United States. As a story, it’s too easy to quickly figure out which characters can and cannot be trusted, so waiting for Creasy to catch up can be trying. But Man on Fire keeps you invested in its characters even when the plot and dialogue are often by-the-numbers.
The most welcome new addition to the saga is a community of favela residents in Rio who come to Creasy and Poe’s aid and provide them with, even for a brief respite, a safe haven. Introduced to them through a driver named Valeria (played with grit and warmth by Alice Braga), Creasy’s newfound allies include young men who, although they commit crimes just to survive, prove more honorable and sympathetic than the government officials ostensibly looking for justice in the wake of the terrorist bombing.
When it comes to Man on Fire, though, what you really crave from the experience is seeing Creasy use any means necessary to get answers from the bad guys and mete out justice, and on that front this show definitely delivers. How far Creasy will go (that blasting cap device!) highlights his character’s murky morality, especially in Episode 4’s panic room sequence involving a villain and his young son.
Creasy is a damaged, self-destructive man who has been honed to do one thing – execute the mission, regardless of the cost to himself. Abdul-Mateen excels at showing the wounded vulnerability lurking just underneath the physical confidence Creasy exudes. It’s Creasy’s lingering humanity that keeps you on his side even at his most vicious.
