By Josh Nason
I do love a good action show or movie so when I first saw the trailer for the Netflix series Man on Fire, I was all in.
Then, I watched all seven episodes over the course of a week.
What did I think and is it worth your time? Let’s get into the latest Should You Watch and help answer a few questions. As always, there are no spoilers here so you can make the decision for yourself.
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Should You Watch Man on Fire (Netflix)?
How many seasons?
One (and very likely a second).
How many episodes?
What type of show is it?
Action drama.
Where can I currently find it?
Netflix.
Who is it for?
People that like action movies or TV, especially military/government conspiracy tinged.
What’s the commit level?
330 minutes for a total of 5.5 hours but given Netflix’s long-ass international credits, you can cut off about 30 minutes from that total if/when you skip them.
Is there a bailout episode?
The first one.
Any interesting background in the show’s creation?
If the name sounds familiar, it’s based on the 1987 film and the 2004 Denzel Washington reboot film of the same name which was based on an 1980 novel. Now that’s leveraging IP. Netflix ordered the series in March 2023 that also included the adapted follow-up novel, The Perfect Kill. I have never read either so I don’t know how both stories play into the show.
Are there actors the average TV watcher would recognize?
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Bobby Cannavale, Scoot McNairy, Paul Ben-Victor
What’s the reaction been?
Not great on Rotten Tomatoes with a 58/64 split and a 61 on Metacritic (generally favorable). It debuted in the top spot on the global Netflix charts and remained in the top ten for a few weeks. As of this writing, no awards/nominations but it’s way too early.
What’s the main plot in a sentence?
A former government agent gets a chance at redemption, but things go awry.
What’s the rewatch factor?
Low
If you like these shows or movies, you’ll like this:
I’m not sure which I’ll get to below.
Is this a first or second screen show?
Definitely a second.
Should you watch Man on Fire?
This is the first SYW since I started this website in 2026 where I can say these two words: absolutely not.
I really wanted to like this as I thought Abdul-Mateen II was awesome in Wonder Man and good here as well. The show is just boring with a few good action sequences but ultimately, it felt unnecessary. If they wanted to remake the movie for a third time, I could see that given where we are in IP culture, but this wasn’t a five hour story that was begging to be told.
Part of my issue was the focus on Billie Boullet’s teenage (?) character and the people she interacts with including drug dealers/gang leaders and unwilling siblings of those people. The side plots felt like filler to a ridiculous degree and a desire to build a whole cast vs. just focusing on the lead and the story.
I assume part of that desire is that the finale sets up a likely second season which also seems unnecessary. That’s why I didn’t have anything to compare it to above. There are some elements of action movies and shows here, but compared to The Terminal List or Extraction or Narcos, this just doesn’t have that hook.
So, should you watch Man on Fire? No. There are so many other action shows and movies to spend your time with.
