Men on Fire is the most fantastic thriller in years. It pulls off what most films of this genre lack: Emotional depth in the midst of an action-driven plot.  Denzel Washington plays John Creasy, a retired CIA operative/contract killer whose conscience has got the better of him and led him to the whiskey bottle. Visiting a former comrade in Mexico, the old friend (Christopher Wallken) ropes him into the job of protecting the young daughter of a Mexican industrialist Samuel Ramires (Marc Anthony) whose American jet-set wife Lisa fears for the life of their daughter after Mexico City is caught in a wave of child-kidnappings. Creasy only reluctantly agrees to serve as the body guard of the nine-year-old Pita (Dakota Fanning) because he is afraid that the body of an alcoholic would be too weak to protect the girl. But Creasy has no idea how difficult Pita will make it for him to continue on the path that he has chosen.

Inspired by real events, the film takes many surprising turns. The relationship between the Creasy and Pita leads to moments that are deeply moving. Not since Kolya has a film put so effectively in its emotional center the relationship between man and a child. The drama unfolding between the two makes you forgive that the plot features a notion of morality that you might find objectionable were you not so asorbed by what happens between Creasy and Pita.