Between 1995 and 2010, Denzel Washington and Tony Scott collaborated on five movies, and the plot almost always revolved around a mode of transport. Whether it was by accident or design, the duo clearly enjoyed each other’s company when it came to an action thriller hinging on a vehicle of some description.
Crimson Tide pitted Washington against Gene Hackman on a military submarine, Déjà Vu saw the leading man’s ATF agent attempting to stop a terrorist from blowing up a passenger ferry via some time loop trickery, The Taking of Pelham 123 was an entertaining remake that saw the actor try and stop John Travolta’s hijacker holding a subway train to ransom, while he paired up with Chris Pine to bring a runaway locomotive to a halt in Unstoppable.
The outlier is Man on Fire, which instead saw Denzel’s world-weary John Creasy hired by a wealthy family to protect their daughter. When the child is kidnapped, the former covert operative heads on a one-man revenge mission to get her back, dishing out violent retribution along the way.
The 2004 thriller has been dominating the Netflix most-watched list all week, and has even managed to rise as high as second place, as per FlixPatrol. Audiences will never grow tired of watching the two-time Academy Award winner headlining mid budget genre films, and it isn’t even the only effort from his back catalogue in the Top 10.