The Movie:

Directed by Elie Chouraqui in 1987 before it was remade years later with Denzel Washington in the lead, this original version of Man On Fire stars Scott Glenn as a former C.I.A. agent/Vietnam vet named John Creasy. His experience gives him plenty of opportunity in the private sector and when his friend, David (Joe Pesci), gets him a job in Italy, he takes it. The gig? To look out for a twelve year old girl named Samantha (Jade Malle). Her wealthy parents, Ettore (Paul Shenar) and Jane (Brooke Adams), are concerned that the mafia are targeting her and Creasy is just the type of guy they want around in case things get tough.

Samantha's parents aren't really around tall that much, however. As such, she spends a lot more time with Creasy than you'd probably expect. She likes him and, after the passing of enough time, he likes her too and they strike up an unorthodox friendship. Of course, as soon as that happens, lead mobster Conti (Danny Aiello) has his crew abduct the girl. Now not only bound by obligation but also a genuine affection for the girl he's been paid to protect, John arms himself to the teeth and heads out into the city to get her back in one piece. The authorities want no part of this, Creasy is Sam's only hope.

Based on A.J. Quinnell's 1980 novel of the same name, Man On Fire is a decent thriller with a great cast and some nice European location photography working in its favor. There are times where the pacing feels a bit off and times where the relationship between Paul and Sam is put in front of the action for a bit longer than you might want it to be, but the good outweighs the bad here. There are some issues with the film, however. The relationship between Sam and Paul never seems to be quite as genuine as it needs to be to really pull at our heart strings once she's in trouble. This makes the revenge aspect a bit less heartfelt and a little less plausible.

However, if you go into this one looking for entertainment without a need for realism or complex relationships, Man On Fire is a pretty decent watch. Scott Glenn is pretty great in the lead. Anyone who has seen the recent Daredevil series on Netflix where he plays Stick knows that he does surly, bad ass characters really well. Paul Creasy is right up his alley, a role seemingly tailor made for the actor. He looks the part, he handles himself really well in the action scenes and he does fine with the more dramatic aspects of the production as well. Joe Pesci is also a lot of fun here in his supporting role, while Danny Aiello is well cast as the sinister mobster behind the kidnapping plot. Shenar and Adams essentially disappear for most of the film, however, as does Johnathan Pryce, always fun to watch but really underused here as Ettore's lawyer. This isn't an issue with the performances, rather the story itself. It feels like there should have been more to some of these supporting characters. It never develops and makes you wonder if maybe a lot of this was chopped out in the editing room to keep the running time from going past the standard ninety minute mark.

Interestingly enough, despite the pedigree of the cast involved in the picture, Man On Fire never received a DVD release and it makes its digital debut courtesy of this Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Speaking of which…

Video:

Man On Fire arrives on Blu-ray from Kino in AVC encoded 1080p high definition in 1.78.1 widescreen. Detail is nice and strong and color reproduction is good as well but this looks brighter than maybe it should? Contrast definitely leans towards the hot side of things. Skin tones look great and there's nice texture and depth throughout the film. Some minor print damage pops up here and there but it's definitely minor, just small specks never big gouges or scratches.