BOSSIP & Cassius Talk ‘Man On Fire’

Yahya Abdul-Matteen has taken on Denzel Washington’s role of John Creasy in Netflix’s Man On Fire, and BOSSIP and Cassius are diving headfirst into the action-packed flames.

Today, the brands released a new episode of The Black Watch, an editorial-led series examining the biggest cultural moments in film and entertainment.

The latest installment of the series brings together BOSSIP’s Managing Editor Dani Canada, iONE Digital Vice President of Video Tanya Hoffler-Moore, iONE Digital Director of Content for the Men’s Division Alvin Blanco, and comedian-writer Richard Jones for a candid conversation about the first two episodes of Netflix’s seven-part thriller.

Led by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a PTSD-stricken former Special Forces soldier seeking revenge while protecting a young girl in Rio, the series quickly sparks debate among the panel, not just for its action-packed premise but for the shadow cast by its predecessor.

Before diving into Man on Fire, Richard sets the tone with a blunt, comedic comparison.

“This was the exact palette cleanser that I needed to get the taste of Wonder Man out of my mouth. No Diddy! Wonder Man was great, right up until the end… once you get to the last episode, it is garbage juice,” he says. “Garbage, juice, you’re supposed to be a superhero, but you break a criminal out of jail. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Other than that, Yabba Dabba Doo did his thing.”

That unfiltered energy carries into the panel’s main discussion, where comparisons to Denzel Washington’s 2004 Man on Fire quickly become unavoidable.

“You can’t remake anything that Denzel did, just leave it alone,” Tanya says. “We are always going to compare you to the original. I just kept saying, ‘This ain’t Denzel!’”

“This is a travesty, I wasn’t feeling it,” she adds. “I’m still gonna give it a shot, but I just was, like, what am I watching?!”

Still, not everyone is tied to nostalgia. Alvin offers a contrarian take, pushing back on the reverence surrounding the original film.

“I really didn’t like Denzel’s Man on Fire,” he admits. “Denzel’s acting was great, but—look away if you haven’t seen it yet; he dies at the end! I’m, like, why Denzel gotta die? He saved the white girl, but oh, Denzel gotta die? I was done. He should have lived.” 

Dani lands somewhere in the middle, praising Yahya’s performance while acknowledging some uneven moments in the series.

“I just like seeing him in action, beating up the bad guys, flipping the guns, doing all the stunts,” Dani says. “I think he is like the ultimate actor for an action role because he’s an AC-TOUR, he’s a Yale graduate, so I feel like he puts a lot into his roles.”

Tanya adds that the series may be working against itself by leaning too heavily on its connection to the original.

“I think they should have called it ‘Yahya on Fire’ or something else,” she says. “It’s like they set him up a little bit, but let’s be clear, Yahya’s a hitmaker.”

Beyond the comparisons, the conversation expands to Yahya’s growing résumé, with the panel pointing to his work across television and film as evidence of his versatility and staying power.

Dani also highlights the show’s early performance metrics, noting its strong debut viewership and higher Rotten Tomatoes score compared to the 2004 film.

After debating about Man On Fire, the episode closes on a lighter note, with the group testing their knowledge of iconic quotes from classic Black films and television before diving into red carpet coverage from Is God Is, with interviews from Vivica A. Fox and executive producer Tessa Thompson.