All Fired Up

Grrr. Remember the testosterone-laden tension that fairly pinged off the submarine walls in Tony Scott's wondrous Crimson Tide? Well, buckle up and prepare yourselves, because Scott's re-uniting with fellow submariner Denzel Washington to deliver another dose of macho action in their new film complete with suitably butch title, Man on Fire. Adapted by L.A. Confidential and Payback scribe Brian Hegeland from a novel by A.J. Quinnell, the infernal tale follows an embittered former Marine (Washington) who is harangued into becoming a bodyguard of the child of a rich family. Warming to the kiddie despite himself, the ex-soldier is then appalled when she is kidnapped and killed accidentally in a botched exchange for ransom. Well, he should certainly feel a bit sheepish, at the least. Needless to say, the spirited man vows revenge and devotes his life to hunting the nasty men responsible down. And it's a project that Scott's been wanting to do ever since he began his explosion-filled career. When preparations for the movie didn't set alight in 1986, he had to settle for a certain Mr Cruise and a quiet film called Top Gun. Not exactly a decision that should go down in the Annals of Heinous Mistakes, then.