This Denzel Washington action thriller was savaged by critics in 2004, but over 20 years later it's an undeniable must-watch

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The Tom's Guide Verdict: 'Man on Fire'Rating: 4/5 starsVerdict: This movie starts as the story of a hardened killer-turned-bodyguard (Denzel Washington) bonding with his charge (Dakota Fanning). But we know the entire time a kidnapping is coming. Once it does, Denzel puts on a tour de force performance, tearing through 2003 Mexico City with abandon and leaving bodies in his wake.Where to watch: Stream "Man on Fire" as part of your YouTube TV subscription or buy or rent it from Amazon nowI'll freely admit, I've always liked "Man on Fire." I've always liked Denzel Washington. I've always liked director Tony Scott. I've always liked when they've teamed up together. And while "Crimson Tide" remains their best team-up, this 2004 action thriller set in Mexico City has been a movie in the Denzel Watchathon I've been eagerly anticipating.What I didn't realize, though, is that while I always loved this movie, critics hated it. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a rating of just 39% fresh. One review on the review aggregator (Nathan Rabin of AV Club) called it "Scott's latest exercise in assaultive excess nevertheless lingers for two and a half hours, like a drunken houseguest who won't leave." On Metacritic, it's a relatively abysmal 47 out of 100 average critic score. That's actually worse than the 5.4 out of 10 average score on Rotten Tomatoes.Yet, while critics disliked "Man on Fire," audiences loved it. It's rated 89% fresh by audiences on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 4.3 out of 5. On Metacritic, things are more tempered, with it scoring just 7.4 out of 10 on average. It notched an A- Cinemascore and is rated 3.8 out of 5 on Letterboxd.In short, someone is wrong here. Either the critics got it right, and this movie is an excessive montage of violence and not much else. Or, audiences got it right, and this is a darn good movie. Going in, I already was siding with the audience. But I haven't seen the nearly two-and-a-half-hour-long movie in years, so I was willing to be proved wrong.If you want to watch this movie before you read on, I have some good news and some bad news. "Man on Fire" isn't currently streaming on any of the best streaming services, but it is on many of the best live TV streaming services. You can stream "Man on Fire" as part of your YouTube TV subscription or buy or rent "Man on Fire" from Amazon right now.