Tony Scott, Macho Director, RIP
Really sad to hear about the death of Tony Scott. I didn’t know him and have nothing personal to say, but I was a genuine admirer of his films. They were macho — manly — and that in itself made them a cut above much of what comes out of Hollywood.
Many people in the west use the word macho as a pejorative. This is because they are self-deceiving knuckleheads. They are kept so safe by (mostly) macho men with guns in the military and our various police forces that they can feel free to pretend they are somehow better and more civilized, doncha know, than their protectors. But the fact is if good boys aren’t taught to fight and win for what’s right, bad boys — from street gangs and Iran and Russia and China — will teach them how to fight and lose. And no, generalizing and excepting the exceptions, girls can’t cut it.
So it behooves an artist to pay tribute to tough guys now and then. Not nice guys who talk tough but the hard bastards who understand that, in certain circumstances, violence is not only an act of love, but the act of love that makes all other acts of love possible.
Tony Scott did that in terrific action films like Top Gun, Crimson Tide and Unstoppable. My personal favorite, however, is Man on Fire.
Man on Fire (2004) is one of the very few recent films that I consider truly tough. The great Denzel Washington (Scott’s most-oft-used star) plays a mercenary looking for redemption who discovers his salvation lies in a blood-soaked hunt for a kidnapped child. Filled with Christian imagery and ideas, the movie asks the question: What happens to a man when the single talent God gives him is a talent for killing? The answers are both tragic and triumphant, and the action, story, performances and most of all direction are all terrific.
Go take a look at the reaction to the film on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics give it a withering 39% approval. The human beings give it 89%, one short of 90%, which is almost unheard of. The critics whine prissily about the ugly violence. The people get it: this is a thoughtful, exciting and macho tribute to the sine qua non guys, the violent guys — and the violent instincts — that uphold the best of civilization. (See my earlier similar remarks about Act of Valor.)
Tony Scott was a wonderful director of macho action films. Hollywood is diminished by his death and I personally am sorry to see him go. RIP.
Andrew,
As always your observations are spot on and your sentiment is beautifully said. Thanks.
Hmmm,
So it’s looking like the formula is add 50% to whatever the critics give a non-leftie film.
Act of valor 25% ==> 75%
Man on Fire 39% ==> 89%
I want to see someone write a patriotic film that would get 60% from the critics. How would that movie be?
God bless,
Michael
“Man on Fire” haunts me still.
Thank you Tony Scott.
God’s Mercy and Peace be upon you and His comfort with your family.
You’re so right about our need for hard people to do our dirty work. My nephew was the sweetest little boy in the world growing up. Now he’s a trained killer with the USMC and I couldn’t be prouder of him. I just saw Man On Fire. Yesterday I watched True Romance. Tell me something, Klavan On The Culture: on what planet does True Romance rate 91% on RT and Man on Fire 39? What does Man on Fire do that True Romance completely fails to do? It takes its time developing a relationship between a little girl and a talented assassain tortured by the memories of the practice of his greatest gift. How hypocritical of these film critics to praise TR, which is a shallow, blood-soaked, juvenile, implausable, but well-photographed story jam-packed with f-bombs, and then condemn MOF for its violence. It’s the Bible stuff that gets their goats. If you keep telling yourself you don’t need forgiveness it must rankle to have to watch a film that has the need for redemption in an evil world as its undergirding theme. The funny thing is the best moments in both movies concern the image of a man laying down his life for a friend- early on in TR with Dennis Hopper, and at the end in MOF. What an original concept. Now where have I read that stuff about laying down one’s life for a friend before?
Every few years we can use a movie like Man on Fire or Taken. Just as important as the plot is having an actor who is believable in the part. Liam Neeson or Denzel Washington can pull it off. Keanu Reeves or Johnny Depp would just look silly.
My dad loves Man On Fire. It’s definitely one of his favorites, if not THE favorite. I think he likes it when the main character has no qualms or hangups when it comes to brutalizing the bad guys for info.
Man on Fire is one of my favorite movies and definitely my favorite Denzel movie. It is one of those movies I can watch again and again….and have.