With its star-studded cast, you would expect nothing less than an engaging film from Man on Fire. Helming the leading man role is Oscar laureate Denzel Washington; to sweeten things up, we have Dakota Fanning. Man on Fire, however is riddled with a controversial plot and messy shots that even charming Denzel and cute Dakota can't redeem.

Violence is writ large in the movie and when the perpetrator is the lead man himself, nothing seems more controversial, not even the allusion to the ineptness of the Mexico City police forces. Washington plays a vigilante in the film who went on a rampage after his charge, Fanning, was kidnapped. In the course of his pursuit to kill "anyone who was involved, anyone who profited from it (the kidnap), anyone who opens their eyes at me", he snipped a couple of fingers, fired a rocket launcher, rectally inserted an explosion-triggering transmitter into a corrupt police officer, abetted suicide, got shot and swallowed painkillers. Very Max Payne-like; not exactly a role model in traditional sense.

I have bones to pick about the cinematography too. For some reasons, flashing, blurry shots are favoured. Limited to a few scenes, they're cool. It's a different story when they're used intermittently throughout the movie. That aside, cinematography-wise, the film isn't without any merits; shots of reflections off mirrors are stylish and put to good use when the characters converse in some of the scenes.

The first episode of Survivor: Vanuatu was another dissapointment. Unlike in previous seasons, no single survivors stood out; they did not come across as an interesting bunch of people to watch stranded on an island for 39 days. Also, after more than 8 seasons (see, I've even lost count!), what little sense of novelty left associated to Survivor is gone for good. Then again, I base my judgement on that first episode, which isn't entirely fair. But really, Survivor should have been given the due retirement it deserves. The theme song is still as catchy as ever though.