The burden of a man lies upon him in the light in which he sees himself, or at least that is how one could perceives Creasy, a former Special Forces operative.  Creasy is heavily burdened by himself as he reflects upon his past and the things he has done, which he tries to drown in the haze of alcoholic slumber and forgetfulness.  However, reality always returns to Creasy as he slowly resurfaces from the dark depths where he tries to hide his consciousness.  The answer to Creasy's painful memories is to once again fill his belly with Jack Daniels and let the alcohol perform magic on his awareness.  Creasy maintains this alcoholic haze as he travels by cab from United States to Mexico to visit his old friend Rayburn (Christopher Walken), which may be a call for help.

Rayburn is a caring person that lives like a king in Mexico, but it pains him to see Creasy in an internal misery.  In order to help Creasy Rayburn gets him a job as a bodyguard for girl in a rich family in Mexico City where there are at least four kidnappings per day.  Creasy's subject is a clever and perceptive young girl by the name Pita (Dakota Fanning), who immediately discovers that she likes him.  When Creasy begins to work there is at tension between him and Pita, as she wants to befriend him and he wants to only do his job.  This is the beginning for a long and detailed character development, which leads Creasy into again finding a purpose in life as he protects Pita.

The day comes when someone tries to kidnap her, as most viewers probably can predict, and Creasy will seek his revenge upon those who are involved in the kidnapping.  Creasy becomes the avenging angel that slays those responsible for the kidnapping and it seems as if he seeks redemption from the pain that he is experiencing.  This leads the viewer into a long series of action packed sequences that contain some gruesome scenes as Creasy methodically seeks the guilty people.

Scott applies quick jump-cuts to the film in a way which has been seen in film such as Infernal Affairs (2002) and City of God (2003).  The method of using the quick jump-cut induces stress, which elevates the suspense in the film.  The jump-cuts are fused together with grainy photography, which is suppose to provide an authentic experience, much like documentaries, which together provokes further tension between characters in the story.  

Man on Fire is a troubling story about vengeance where the audience will experience relief when justice has been served by Creasy.  Yet, vengeance functions as a doubled edged sword hurting Creasy as he returns to his former ways, which drove him into deep feelings of guilt and grave alcoholism to begin with.  This notion should be pondered as he systematically progresses through Mexico City's corrupt elements and assassinates those involved in the kidnapping.  There are some interesting scenes that support this idea when Denzel Washington swims in a pool between the killings, as if he was purging himself of what he has done.  However, it seems as if he could not get himself rid of the blood as the blood continues to return.  

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