Film Review: A Man Apart (2003)

6 months ago

(source: tmdb.org)

Among all stars of 21st Century Hollywood Vin Diesel has the image closest to hyper-masculine ideal of 1980s action hero. Despite superficial similarities, Dominc Torreto, his best known character, is far from that ideal because Fast & Furious series and similar action films made in today’s Hollywood usually lack the rawness of 1980s film. One of the very few “old fashioned” 1980s style action films Vin Diesel has starred in is A Man Apart, 2003 action thriller directed by F. Gary Gray.

Diesel plays Sean Vetter, DEA agent who grew up on the streets of Los Angeles and thus gained valuable experience that helps him fight increasingly vicious Mexican drug cartels. He and his partner Demetrius Hicks (played by Larenz Tate) succeed in taking down one of those cartels and have its leader Memo Lucero (played by Geno Silva) arrested and later extradited to USA. Lucero’s operation is, however, taken over by mysterious figure known as “El Diablo”. Soon afterwards, mysterious assassins attack Vetter’s home, wound him and kill his wife Stacy (played by Jacqueline Obradors). After Vetter recovers he is determined to find and punish persons responsible, even if it means that he would have to abandon his career in DEA and try pursue justice as vigilante. In its campaign he receives unexpected help from Lucero, who not only denies that he had anything to do with fatal attack but actually encourages Vetter to go against El Diablo.

A Man Apart looked very old fashioned compared with most other big budget Hollywood action films of its time. This was not only due to increased levels of violence, but also due to lack of “political correctness”. Script by Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring take approach towards War on Drugs that is very much in line what Hollywood preached a decade earlier, portraying drug dealers and their bosses as the vilest of all scum that should be exterminated, even if it requires crossing certain lines. Main character, motivated with his righteous anger, actually crosses that line in very emotional scene that also shows how Diesel can play very dark characters, but also might make some viewers feel uncomfortable over cheering for murderer. Even more problematic is protagonist dragging his partner Hicks into his vendetta, with Larenz Tate playing well character who actually has something to lose, but he nevertheless joins Vetter in crossing that line. This disturbing tale is told through more than acceptable direction by F. Gary Gray, film maker with a lot of experience in action genre. Unfortunately, script for the most part uses cliches, including Stacy’s fate being all but telegraphed to anyone even vaguely familiar with rules of 1980s action cinema. A Man Apart tries to evade cliches only near the end with “clever” twist that would actually look quite disappointing. This disappointment reflected on box office, making A Man Apart one of the more forgettable films of Diesel’s career. Diesel after that returned to the role of Torreto, apparently admitting that his stardom could work best in films more in line with 21st Century sentiments.

RATING: 4/10 (+)