“Man on Fire”: Season 1, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II / Z-View

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Man on Fire: Season 1 (2025)

Created by: Kyle Killen; based on MAN ON FIRE by A.J. Quinnell

Director:

  • Steven Caple Jr. (Eps. 1-2)
  • Vicente Amorim (Eps. 3-4)
  • Clare Kilner (Eps. 5-6)
  • Michael Cuesta  (Ep. 7)

Teleplay by:

  • Kyle Killen (Eps. 1-7)

Starring:  Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Billie Boullet, Scoot McNairy, Alice Braga, Paul Ben-Victor and Bobby Cannavale.

Tagline: None.

The Plot… (beware of spoilers)

John Creasy was a Captain in the United States Special Forces.  If a team was needed to go in a high risk-high reward situation, Creasey was the man you wanted in charge.  Creasey was formidable in all aspects of military training and second to none as a strategist.  When Creasey left the military, the CIA scooped him up.  Creasey continued to be the go-to leader who would get the mission accomplished, no matter the odds.

That was then.

A mission led by Creasey resulted in his entire squad wiped out. Creasey became a shell of his former self.  He left the CIA.  No he drinks too much and suffers from PTSD.

Paul Rayburn, a friend of Creasey’s, owns a security company.  Rayburn flies Creasey to Brazil to offer him a job.  While Creasey considers the opportunity, he re-bonds with Rayburn, his wife and their two children.

Tragedy strikes when a terrorist group blows up the building where Rayburn and his family live.  Rayburn, his wife and son are three of the approximately six hundred killed in the explosion.  Rayburn’s daughter Poe, wasn’t in the building when it detonated. She saw one of the terrorists.  Worse still, he saw her.

Poe becomes a target of the terrorists.  Creasey now has something to live for – to protect Poe and get revenge for the murder of his friends and 600 others.

Thoughts…

I like that Man on Fire didn’t play out the exact same plot as the excellent Man on Fire movie directed by Tony Scott, starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning.

This is the third adaptation of AJ Quinnell’s MAN ON FIRE novel.  The first was the 1987 film Man on Fire starring Scott Glenn as John Creasey.  The second was the 2004 Man on Fire movie starring Denzel Washington.

A.J. Quinell is the pen name of Philip Nicholson.  He wrote five novels about John Creasey.

Kudos to Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.  Playing a character Denzel Washington made famous is ask.  Abdul-Mateen II did a fine job.

Man on Fire: Season 1 (2025) rates 4 of 5 stars.