Will Hume reviews Netflix’s Man on Fire…
If you’re looking for someone to lead a TV series that can fill the larger-than-life shoes of Denzel Washington, it’s hard to find someone more qualified than Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. He already led one well-reviewed miniseries this year in Marvel’s Wonder Man, and previously struck TV gold for his portrayal of another superhero, Dr. Manhattan, in the Emmy-winning HBO series Watchmen. Yahya picks up on several subtle mannerisms of Denzel’s previous performance: a subtle look, the way he tilts his head, or the pauses between words. He is physically less brutal, but plays a younger version of the character.
The material was already adapted once before the 2004 version, in ’87 with Scott Glenn in the lead. To keep things fresh, Netflix decided to adapt to a different medium, although I doubt the plain visual style would have changed much. The show lacks the frenetic, acidic energy of the earlier Tony Scott film and doesn’t even try to recreate it, unlike the superb, inspired video game Max Payne 3, which has the same plot, down to the Brazilian setting. The original novel and film took place in Italy, the remake in Mexico. The TV show opens in Mexico before moving to Brazil. Coincidence? I think not.
Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II, Transformers 7) directed the first two episodes, and is used to following in the footsteps of directors who are better than him. He connects the plot points without much added fuss. However, the pace starts to sag towards the end of episode 2.
Creator of the series, Kyle Killen, doesn’t bite off more than he can chew this time, following his failed television adaptation of Halo. Here, he writes all 7 episodes, with the first four loosely adapting the titular novel and the last 3 covering the novel’s follow-up, The Perfect Kill. This show is grounded in beautiful Brazil and gets a lot of mileage out of filming on location. He also assembles a top-shelf cast including a very good Bobby Cannavale, Scoot McNairy, Paul Ben Victor, and Alice Braga.
Billie Boullett, who looks like a young Rachel Weisz, isn’t as distinct as Dakota Fanning was in the role of the daughter that Creasy has to protect. That’s not completely her fault, as her character is so generically written that it’s hard to invest in her character or her relationship with Creasy. I would not be surprised if the writers had ChatGPT spit out a description of a rebellious teenage daughter. Poe, as she is called here, is 6-8 years older than in her previous adaptations and already has a family friend relationship with Creasy built in. This is done to free up time that the show doesn’t want to spend on their relationship, the unique feature of this revenge story.
Man on Fire is thankfully not the cheap Netflix production it could have been, though it lacks the direction or the conviction of its predecessor, although it is well cast with good action and set in real locations, which allows the TV show to go down easily. It is not heavily digitized or poorly green-screened like so many movies and television productions nowadays. And Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who has become a better actor over the years, has enough presence to hold the thinly written material together. I would recommend the show to any fan of action who has a Netflix subscription, although I would by no means call it great.
Will Hume
