The Story:
A man (“Creasy”) battling a variety of demons (including being an alcoholic), is hired to protect the daughter of a Mexico City businessman after a trend of kidnappings rises in the city amongst the wealthy inhabitants. His charming and personable 10-yr. old charge (“Pita”) eventually melts his sturdy, cold as ice, straight business demeanor and a “friendship” between the two is formed and he learns how to love & care for someone. When Pita becomes the next kidnapping victim, Creasy is hell-bent on making those responsible pay for what they’ve done. The levels in how deep the kidnapping ring goes includes Mexico City bullies all the way to corrupt government officials.
The Review:
Now, when I saw the trailer for this movie on TV, the producers had me with the first glimpse of Denzel. I was a sure thing for opening weekend with the glimpses of an out-for-revenge Denzel! A fan of action flixs, this movie was not lacking in action one bit…some of it ruthless but palatable for a man on a mission as Creasy was. I felt the on-screen chemistry between Denzel and Dakota Fanning’s Pita was sweet and believable. Christopher Walken played an old friend of Creasy’s and quite honestly, I found myself distracted by Walken’s character: wondering if HE was one of the bad guys who set Creasy up to take the fall for Pita’s kidnapping (probably because I’ve been so used to seeing Walken play a sleaze) but he was enjoyable nonetheless.
Young Dakota Fanning is coming into her own as a little actress (I LOVED her as “Lucy” in 2001’s “I Am Sam”). While watching Creasy & Pita’s interaction and how he puts his life on the line to protect her had me momentarily spiraling into my own bodyguard-type fantasies…and with Denzel on the job, all the better.
While the story was nothing new or astronomically unique or original it was indeed entertaining with an ending twist that I saw coming but was still moved by. I would like to say more about the plot and story but I don’t want to spoil the ending (click link @the end of this review for SPOILER info).
They say “Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned”…I say “Hell hath no fury as a PO’d Denzel!”
The Backstory:
This script was written by Oscar-winning writer Brian Helgeland, whom incidentally I met almost 10 years ago on the set of the Sylvester Stallone/Antonio Bandaras movie “Assassins” shot here in Seattle, in which he wrote the screenplay for. Mr. Helgeland was an up & coming writer (at that time his writing roster consisted of slasher/horror flixs such as “Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master” & “976-EVIL”). He would go on to write such screenplays like “LA Confidential”, “Conspiracy Theory”, “Payback” and the highly acclaimed “Mystic River”.
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