Reviews: A Man Apart

[JoBlo]

JoBlo's 5/10 review of A MAN APART can be found here: http://www.joblo.com/manapart.htm

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[bigred760]

I've seen like 2 or 3 Steven Seagal movies like this one. The "I'm a cop, a loved one was shot, now I'm going to kick some ass to avenge her" movie has been done a thousand times with a thousand different titles to it.

Not that it's a bad idea for a movie, just done too much. Vin Diesel tries his hand at it and does a pretty good job. He plays a pretty good pissed off cop. This movie has its share of funny moments so it's not a depressing movie throughout.

One thing I'll give this movie; the ending wasn't what I thought it would be - the mystery isn't how I thought it would turn out to be. That's all I'm going to say about it.

Anyway, there's nothing original about this movie. I'm not exactly a Vin Diesel fan (I haven't seen Pitch Black or Boiler Room, but I thought he was alright in Fast & the Furious and XXX), but he holds his own in this thing. I enjoyed the action (Diesel beating the shit out of a coupla guys was pretty cool), the laughs, and being caught off guard at the end. Other than that, I'll probably watch this movie again when it pops up on TBS in a coupla of years.

6/10

[Puck Bond]

A Man Apart is a gritty, entertaining action movie with a simple story of pure revenge and anguish. The seemingly ever more popular and rising star Vin Diesel gives his best "performance" to date as a man with nothing to lose, who vows to take down the drug cartel that has his wife killed. Diesel stars as Sean Vetter, a street-wise tough guy now turned DEA agent, who along with his elite team take down Mexico's biggest and most ruthless cocaine trafficker Memo Lucero played by Geno Silva. With Lucero in prison a new leader emerges within the drug world known simply as El Diablo...and a hit is put on Vetter's wife Stacy. Sean vows revenge and gets help from his partner and former gangbanger friend Demetrius played by Larenz Tate and large loveable thug Big Sexy. In order to find El Diablo and seek out his revenge Sean follows the trail of money and former associates of the druglord. One of these is Hollywood Jack played by Timothy Olyphant, who has a couple of very fun scenes, especially when Sean tracks him down outside a tanning salon. Also, Sean must seek help in the imprisoned druglord Lucero. They can help each other seemingly and when they meet in prison those turn out to be quite interesting scenes. This movie isn't great, but it is good for what it is and is simply about a man who has nothing to lose after the death of his wife. The direction by F. Gary Gray is sharp and the gun battles and action scenes are solidly done. There is nothing really new to this story and there is nothing new that is brought to the genre by this movie. The standout really is Vin Diesel in the lead role showing that he is just not all muscle and brawn...he shows some emotion here and he is quite engaging and believable as a man hell bent on revenge. Larenz Tate is also quite good as his partner and friend. I especially liked the scene where Sean comes to him for help and Deemtrius doesn't want to risk his family and job to help him.
Overall, A Man Apart is an entertaining story of simple revenge set amongst the ruthless and profitable nature of cocaine dealing between Mexico and California. The movie has a slick polished look, yet a urban and gritty feel to it and features a nice performance by Vin Diesel.