A MAN APART
RATING: 5/10
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PLOT:
A drug enforcement agent busts one of the biggest dealers in Mexico and soon
finds himself at the wrong end of a "hit" which tragically takes the life of his
wife instead. Pissed at the world and ready to kick ass, the man gets out of the
hospital, returns to his job and...well, pisses on the world and kicks ass! Lots
of pissing and kicking of said ass ensues.
CRITIQUE:
I like to put my cards on the table in all of my reviews, so suffice it to say
that I've been a big fan of Vin Diesel ever since he charmed the pants off me in
BOILER ROOM, and later knocked me upside the head with his darker turn in PITCH
BLACK. Since then, Vin has become a mega-star, along with all the stuff that
comes along with that sort of success including the potshots, the rumors about
his sexuality, tales of his arrogance, etc... I don't really care about crap
like that, because all that matters to me is what I see on the big screen and in
A MAN APART, I'm happy to report that Diesel is back in his "acting mode" with a
convincing portrayal of a man bent on revenge. Yes, the story or the idea of a
"rogue" cop pounding the pavement in search of payback isn't unique by any
stretch of the imagination, but the Dieselnator (leave me alone, man...it's all
I got!) comes through in flying colors here, and renders this made-for-TV-movie
(or your average episode of "Miami Vice") into something with a little more
juice. Unfortunately, Diesel alone isn't enough to recommend this flick in
theaters, especially with almost no other interesting characters around him and
no surprising twists or turns anywhere in sight. The plotline is also about as
generic as they come and includes everything from drug cartels with bad
attitudes, strip joints, "wild card" drug dealers, confrontations with
superiors, street shootouts, and even a couple of "tender" moments early on.
The main differences between this flick and others of its sort would be its
stronger emphasis on the lead character and its lack of "all-out" action. In
fact, other than one crazy-ass shootout about halfway through the movie, most of
the time is spent with the lead character coming in and out of his anger/revenge
mode. Diesel does a great job of portraying this man crumbling before our very
eyes, and it's his strong showing that kept me interested most of the way. One
specific scene featuring the star in a strip joint is a particular keeper,
especially the "respect yourself" line he offers a lap-dancer. Classic. Other
than that, the film includes some decent directing (although nothing
spectacular), spots of bad dialogue here and there and a soundtrack that isn't
particularly memorable. Timothy Olyphant, on the other hand, comes to play and
along with his scene-stealing performances in both GO and DREAMCATCHER, I'm
hoping that this guy finally "breaks out" because he sure deserves it! Other
than that, I can't say that much about this movie grabbed me by the nuts and
that's really too bad because Diesel's performance tied to a great script might
have created something special here. As it stands now, it's an okay movie to
watch with your better half or your homeboys who are sick of the
straight-to-video Van Dammes and the Seagal/rap star features. Either way, I
would wait to catch it on video, if anything. It's also to note that this movie
has been "in the can" for quite a while now, so much like the studio did with
KNOCKAROUND GUYS, A MAN APART (formerly DIABLO) is being released now in order
to capitalize on the heat that Mr. Diesel is still emitting.
Where's JoBlo coming from?
Blow (8/10) - The Count of Monte Cristo (7/10) - Dark Blue (5/10) - Exit Wounds
(7/10) - Get Carter (7/10) - Heat (9/10) - Knockaround Guys (6/10) - The
Negotiator (7/10) - Payback (8/10) - Traffic (8/10)
Review Date: March 31, 2003
Director: F. Gary Gray
Writers: Christian Gudegast, Paul Scheuring
Producers: Robert Degus, Vincent Newman
Actors: Vin Diesel as Sean
Laurenz Tate as Demetrius
Timothy Olyphant as Jack
Genre: Crime
Year of Release: 2003
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(c) 2003 Berge Garabedian
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X-RAMR-ID: 34543
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1124635
X-RT-TitleID: 10000391
X-RT-SourceID: 573
X-RT-AuthorID: 1021
X-RT-RatingText: 5/10
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