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The film has 3 stages of approximately equal length: (1) body guard, John Creasy (Denzel Washington) 's evolutionary relations with his young client Pita Ramos (Dakota Fanning); (2) Pita's being kidnapped and the subsequent vain attempt, under the assistance from the Mexican police, to save her by paying ransom from his parents; and (3) Creasy's revenge on the kidnappers. The narrative is linear but fairly restricted as it withholds something from the viewer and precipitates some objective information to create illusion on the same. Yet the narrative logic, temporal and spatial orientation as well as story causality are quickly and explicitly set up in the expository sequence.

The film magnifies Mexico's dark side, narrative wise and visual wise (with crime and chaotic scenes). It also features Americanism in asserting the US's role and powerfulness in fighting crimes. These are found in the story construction that the FBI investigators and Pita's mum Lisa Ramos (Radha Mitchell), an American, are good guys whereas some members of the Mexican police, the Mexican gang and Pita's dad Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony), a Mexican, are either sinful or very bad guys.

The first part expounding the changing relations between Creasy and Pita is slow paced, detailed and very fine (also note Creasy's costume which changes with his psychological status - find it out yourself in the film). There is a sharp contrast in the personalities of characters: Pita, although just 9-years old, is overt and mature in communicative and social skills whereas Creasy is covert, passive, lugubrious and reticent. Child actor Dakota Fanning stages well in this aspect (Denzel Washington is no worse anyway!). The second and third parts of the film are comparatively fast paced and they exhibit the characteristic story elements of the typical cop genre. There are some torture scenes (though in an implicit manner with the help from camera movements and editing) in the flagrant revenge sequences which create sufficient tension in the spectator, particularly those who are appeased by how the bad guys are castigated by the good guys. As there are some deliberate misleading prophetic information as the story progresses, the ending sequence brings a little surprise to the viewer (but it may not be so for those idiosyncratic viewers who formulate alternative hypotheses in the story development). This is an interesting process of brain activity along the active audience paradigm in movie watching.

Obtrusive cinematographic techniques are used especially in the opening credits sequence: accelerated motion, multiple images and the adoption of different film stocks to display various colour tones and textures, particularly in the crime sequences.

The commercial propaganda of the film in Hong Kong is weak and not many movie fans know of it even when it is being shown in the cinema. Fanatics of Denzel Washington and the cop genre will find their satisfaction from watching the film. If the film's languid advertising in Hong Kong is a result of the anticipation of the film distributor on the readership, they may underestimate the synergy among a depressive but later flagrant body guard, a lovely kid, a not-so-cruel gang and a chaotic city.

註：本評論純屬影評作者個人意見，並不代表本網立場。
Note: This views presented in this review is solely the views of the critic who wrote it and do not represent the stance of our website.

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