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Memorable, crazy movie

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

In "A Man Apart", Vin Diesel has all the material to show-off his acting chops not only as a man of action, fully evidenced at the time with "The Fast and the Furious" and "XXX" but also some dramatic edgy parts - better developed under Lumet in the underrated "Find Me Guilty". The movie goes with the basic elements we all love to see in revenge flicks, sometimes hitting the right notes, other times overdoing things but always managing to capture our attention.Diesel stars as DEA Agent Sean Vetter, a man who has life turned upside down when his wife was killed in an attack that almost cost his life, a brutal retaliation due to his actions that led to the imprisonment of a powerful drug cartel leader (the great Geno Silva). While the man is in prison, a mysterious rival named Diablo is taking over his business, leaving a trail of deaths that might have started with Vetter's wife. Along with his loyal buddy (Larenz Tate), Vettel goes out to risk everything in order to avenge the woman's death and also take down another powerful cartel.High quality action sequences such as the 'deal turned into ambush' or tense moments like the negotiation between Overdose and the two agents are what makes of "A Man Apart" fully enjoyable, and director F. Gary Gray knows exactly how to present them and what to convey from them. And as usual with him, despite a rather obviously dark approach, he manages to cultivate some humor into the mix, a strange but poignant sense of humor brought on by Hollywood Jack, the American connection with the cartel, nicely played by Timothy Olyphant.But Mr. Gray didn't get everything right. The rhythm sometimes fails, there's plenty of unnecessary scenes and dialogues, mostly in the beginning; and the writers didn't provide much of a compelling script in regards to some of Vetter/Diesel's actions. You never know exactly when the agent's procedure begins and his solo efforts seeking revenge ends. He's a loose cannon, barely recovering from his wounds and goes with his quest. A man like him, though emotionally shattered with everything that happened, could and should use of his tactics and experiences to form a better operation than the one he improvised with his fellas. They kept going, doing their best but only when the worst thing happened is that his boss showed up? All those awkward elements sort of ruined the experience for me. Other than that, pay no mind to the clichés. They'll always work, much for our joy. For a movie like this, they end up getting the best guy available and surprising us with a nice performance. Vin Diesel makes something extraordinarily different with this role that for some time you actually forget about the actor and just focus on the character. Darker, somber but still the man of the hours who empties his gun or roll the punches at the bad guys. Not one of his most memorable characters he ever played but here's a unique approach that makes him more dynamic. Come and see. 7/10

Vin Diesel tries his best to emote in this ultimately routine crime / revenge saga. He plays Sean Vetter, a former gangbanger turned DEA agent. The persistence of Sean and his colleagues over the course of seven years finally pays off, as they successfully apprehend a drug kingpin, Memo Lucero (Geno Silva). The consequence of this episode is that soon Seans' beloved wife Stacy (Jacqueline Obradors) is killed in an assault on Seans' house. Once he's recuperated, Sean is hellbent on finding out just who gave the order to attempt murder, if it wasn't Lucero. All he knows is that a mysterious figure named El Diablo has taken Memos' place and is even more evil and ruthless than Memo.Larenz Tate plays Seans' friend Demetrius Hicks, who must make a decision between being loyal to Sean and letting the law handle things. Ms. Obradors is an absolutely gorgeous and appealing presence here, and she and Diesel do make a believable couple. Silva delivers a creditable performance as the low key crime boss, with whom Sean actually makes a connection when Luceros' wife falls victim to El Diablo. There's other notable talent in the cast: Timothy Olyphant, Steve Eastin, Juan Fernandez, Jeff Kober, Marco Rodriguez, Mike Moroff, Ken Davitian. The filmmaking is reasonably slick, with the soundtrack full of hip hop and rock, and the action scenes are high energy stuff. But it's hard to get all that interested in this tale when everything just feels so familiar and predictable, not to mention senseless.As this viewer already said, Diesel gives a reasonable effort as the tormented and enraged lead character, but he's simply outshone by his supporting cast.Watchable enough for 110 minutes but pretty forgettable.Six out of 10.

Sean Vetter (Vin Diesel) and Demetrius Hicks (Larenz Tate) are part of a DEA team sent to join Mexican police to take down drug lord Memo Lucero. Memo is captured and brought back to the US. A mysterious new player Diablo is taking over Memo's territory and killing his men. Diablo's men kill Sean's wife (Jacqueline Obradors) in a failed assassination attempt. He goes to seek revenge for his dead wife. They start investigating Hollywood Jack (Timothy Olyphant).It's a crime melodrama. There is a good deal of overacting. The story has several cliché plots jam together. Vin Diesel tries to do a lot. I don't blame him because that's the way it's written. He's a super cop. He's a happy street-wise family man. He's a grieving widow. He's a gangster thug avenging cop. He's too much and the movie suffers. It feels like a lot of poser acting. It doesn't get the benefit of gritty realism. There are quite a bit of gun action but it's not fun or exciting. This movie is going for a lot and probably too much. Around the halfway point, I stop caring about this movie.

There are a lot of people reviewing this film that have no clue about the Vin Diesel oeuvre. This movie rocks. F. Gary Gray's best film, by far. It is straightforward, it is hard, it is cruel, there are no caricatures here.The supporting cast of Larenz Tate, Timothy Olyphant, Emilio Rivera, Jeff Kober, and a bunch of people you would never want to run into in a dark alley, is key to the gritty realism of this film. People comparing it to XXX or the Fast and Furious chain must have fallen asleep during this film because they are miles apart. This is where you find out how hard Vin Diesel can be. Where you get to see him without pity or remorse. If not for A Man Apart, the glimpses of power you see in Pitch Black and XXX and Knockaround Guys never blossom into their full Vin-ness.This is a powerful character portrait of a broken and bitter cop, intermingled with a stud action film. If you've never seen it, shame on you.