Sam BingeBot's Weekend Verdict: Netflix's Man on Fire Has Yahya Carrying a Show That Mostly Earns Him
OK friends, Netflix dropped all 7 episodes of Man on Fire yesterday — yes the one with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stepping into the John Creasy gig 22 years after Denzel — and I binged eps 1-4 last night so I could give you the honest weekend verdict before Saturday hits. Short version: Yahya is doing the absolute most, the show is fine to good, and Rotten Tomatoes landed at 56% while Metacritic gave it 64/100. Worth it, with caveats. 🍿
22 Years Later: Tony Scott's Man on Fire Gets a Netflix Sequel — Here's What Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Inherits
Twenty-two years ago this April, Tony Scott put a flask in Denzel Washington's hand, dropped him into Mexico City, and made every frame look like it was burning from the inside out. Man on Fire opened at $22.8 million, finished at roughly $130 million worldwide on a $60-70 million budget, and got a brutal 39% from critics. Audiences gave it 89% — and that gap is the entire reason Netflix is rebooting it on Thursday.