In this action/crime drama Denzel Washington is John Creasy, a former CIA killer whose past haunts him and has reduced him to an alcoholic. He is visiting his friend and associate Paul Rayburn, played by Christopher Walken in Mexico where he has a security business that provides wealthy businessmen with bodyguards.
(Spoiler Alert – Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)
Rayburn convinces Creasy to take a bodyguard assignment to help him reconnect with life and take his mind off his past.
And so, Creasy takes an assignment to guard Pita (played by a very young Dakota Fanning), the daughter of Samuel Ramos; a wealthy industrialist. And improbably, the little girl and the professional killer bond and Creasy regains his will to live.
But a kidnap squad that includes members of the Federal Judicial Police come for Pita. Creasy kills four of the kidnappers but is himself critically wounded and the girl is taken.
While Creasy lies close to death in a hospital the kidnappers negotiate a ten-million dollar ransom which Samuel agrees to pay. But dirty cops who know of the payment ambush the kidnappers, steal the ransom money and kill the ringleader’s nephew. After this betrayal the ringleader informs the Ramos family that Pita is dead.
Somewhat recovered from his wounds and outraged at Pita’s death Creasy vows to Pita’s mother Lisa that he will kill everyone involved in Pita’s kidnapping and death. With weapons furnished by Rayburn and information provided by a crime reporter and an anti-corruption officer in the Mexican government, Creasy proceeds to do just that. With the liberal use of gruesome torture and threats of death he works his way up the chain of command in both the corrupt police organization and the kidnappers’ gang.
Along the way he finds out that Pita’s father and his crooked attorney were involved in the kidnapping. And no one is spared. The anti-corruption officer follows Creasy’s trail of bodies but allows Creasy to lead him to the kingpin, a shadowy character known only as “The Voice.”
Finally, Creasy captures the kingpin’s brother and pregnant girlfriend and tells him that he will torture them to death unless The Voice trades himself for them. But the Voice has a different bargain. He informs Creasy that Pita is alive and that he will trade her for the release of his girlfriend and brother. But there is the further stipulation that Creasy surrender himself to the mobster. Creasy agrees. He calls up Lisa Ramos and tells her where the rendezvous and trade will occur. Lisa will keep the gun on the mobster’s brother at a distance until Pita is safely back in her hands at which point the brother and Creasy will be transported back to the mobster for Creasy’s horrific fate.
We have a final reunion between Pita and Creasy before she runs across a bridge to her mother’s car. The brother is released and Lisa and Pita drive off. Then Creasy is shoved into a car and heads off into the countryside for his rendezvous with death. But between his earlier wounds and a gunshot wound to the chest he sustained while capturing the mobster’s brother Creasy is already dying. We watch him expire while clutching the St. Jude’s medal that Pita had given him earlier.
We learn in a postscript that the mobster is killed in an arrest attempt by the anti-corruption officer soon after Creasy’s death.
So, what’s the verdict on this extremely frenetic movie? The action sounds like the plot of a 19th century Italian opera. Death, betrayal, revenge, love. It’s all so overwrought. But for me, it works. Maybe partially it’s because I enjoy Denzel Washington’s acting style. Whether he’s chopping off a crooked cop’s fingers and cauterizing the wound with a car’s cigarette lighter or coaching Pita to reduce her time in a swimming competition Washington’s Creasy is a rational, intelligent man who will accomplish his objectives in a business-like manner. But his motivation is to punish those who destroyed innocent life for money. Basically, he’s atoning for his own sins as a killer. In an early scene Creasy asks Rayburn, “Do you think God could forgive us for what we’ve done?” Rayburn shakes his head no and you can tell that Creasy agrees. At the end of the movie as he clutches his religious medal, I guess Creasy is hoping his self-sacrifice might even the score in heaven. The movie is very violent. But I think it is well made and if this kind of story interests you I think it’s well worth watching.