Fire with Fire (2012)
Mike Cella
Following a grueling day of work, firefighter Jeremy Thomas Coleman (Josh Duhamel) and his co-workers contemplate ending the day with a case of 35-year-old Scotch. Jeremy enters a convenience store to buy snacks, but is interrupted by David Hagan (Vincent D’Onofrio), an Aryan Brotherhood crime boss. He accuses the store owner of refusing to buy protection from one of his henchman. The store owner says he buys protection from the Crips.
Hagan kills the store owner’s son and then the store owner. Jeremy narrowly escapes. Police detective Mike Cella (Bruce Willis), whose former partner was murdered by Hagan while they pursued him in a different case, sees an opportunity to bring Hagan to justice. Hagan is detained and put into a police lineup. Hagan, sure that Jeremy is behind the two-way mirror, recites Jeremy’s full name, address and social security number.
Before the trial, Jeremy agrees to change his last name to Douglas. He leaves the fire department and is placed in the witness protection program. Although Jeremy finds it difficult to cope with the loss of his career, he finds consolation in his budding romance with Talia Durham (Rosario Dawson), a Deputy United States Marshal assigned to his case. Later, Hagan’s attorney arranges for him to be released from prison in the weeks leading up to the trial. As a result, Jeremy and Talia find their lives in jeopardy. Talia is wounded by one of Hagan’s hit men, and Hagan calls Jeremy, threatening to kill everyone he loves whether he testifies or not. Jeremy vows to kill Hagan first and abandons the witness protection program.
Jeremy travels home to Long Beach, California where he seeks out an Eastside Crips leader. The Crips agree to supply him with a untraceable weapon. Jeremy stakes out one of Hagan’s hiding places and kills three of his men. He leaves behind fingerprints but the police can not identify him because his identity is protected by his WITSEC status. Detective Cella figures that Jeremy is behind the deaths. Jeremy grows bolder. He identifies the location of one of Hagan’s buildings and tortures one of Hagan’s men. He then confronts Harold Gethers (Richard Schiff), Hagan’s attorney, to find out where Hagan will be. Gethers, who only works for Hagan out of fear, gives Jeremy the location of an abandoned building where Hagan will be that night.
Talia arrives at Long Beach and tries to convince Jeremy to abandon his plan. Jeremy locks Talia in the bathroom and gets away, but Hagan’s hit man arrives soon after and kidnaps Talia. That night, Jeremy, using his firefighting knowledge, sets ablaze the building where Hagan and his men are meeting. When Jeremy realizes Talia is also in the building, he puts on his fireman’s suit and enters the building to rescue her. Talia manages to break free of her bonds and kills Hagan’s hitman as he attempts to flee the blaze. Jeremy runs into Hagan inside the burning building and, after a struggle, Talia kills Hagan. Jeremy leaves the building with Talia. In the aftermath, detective Cella, while conversing with the DA, states that no evidence was left behind at the burnt building to charge anyone with the deaths of Hagan and his men. Cella is seen putting away a photo of him and his old partner.
