Trained or Untrained

Today's Blog selection from our illustrious film collection is Man on Fire with Denzel Washington, Christopher Walken, Marc Anthony and Dakota Fanning. Oh and Mickey Rourke is in this movie too. Before he looked like he did in his "comeback" movie The Wrestler. It is probably clear that I love lots of different kinds of movies. But sometimes you really just want to watch an action flick with violence that is justified in some sense. I did not expect to have an emotional connection to the story line in this film the first time I saw it- but man! It is a doozie! 

This watching my movies in reverse alphabetical order project has really opened my eyes to the different kinds of movies I own. In one post I commented that all of the movies I had been watching to date were full of love stories and cartoons- and in some cases both. But I like Quentin Tarantino kind of films and movies that too. 

Washington plays a character who does not smile and looks sad, it is unfortunate that the film does not give us enough time to really develop and understand what happened to him before he came to be a body guard in Mexico City. But once he is hired by a family to protect their daughter from being kidnapped we see her character Pita having a life changing affect on him. It is a good thing that Washington used to be an assassin in another life because he needs some bad ass skills to make this movie happen. There is also some good old fashioned switch on a switch in this movie too that keeps the plot interesting. 

There is not a whole lot of sex and stuff in this movie either. I enjoy a movie that can tell a story without a bunch of sex and lots of unnecessary foul language. Sometimes foul language is important to the story line, I feel like Pita's mom in this film uses profanity the way it was intended. 

If I were to plan an RA program around Man on Fire I would start by explaining that the injuries that Denzel sustains in this film cannot possibly have been portrayed accurately and true to life. I am confident that no one could function, walk around, shoot a gun for that long of a sustained period of time after being shot so many times. I mean adrenaline can only take you so far. Then I would plan an event where my residents could learn more about adrenaline and how it relates to procrastination and waiting last minute to do your homework, papers, and projects. I would also offer some tips that would make those situations less stressful!