A Man Apart (2003)

Director:

F. Gary Gray

Writers (WGA):

Christian Gudegast (written by) &
Paul Scheuring (written by)

Release Date:

4 April 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

When they took his love... they took his life. On April 4th. he's taking it back.

Plot:

A man known as Diablo emerges to head a drug cartel after the previous leader is imprisoned.

Plot Keywords:

Dea | Drugs | Revenge | Drug Cartel | Mercenary

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Vin Diesel	...	Sean Vetter
Larenz Tate	...	Demetrius Hicks
Timothy Olyphant	...	Hollywood Jack
Geno Silva	...	Memo Lucero
Jacqueline Obradors	...	Stacy Vetter
Steve Eastin	...	Ty Frost
Juan Fernández	...	Mateo Santos
Jeff Kober	...	Pomona Joe
Marco Rodríguez	...	Hondo (as Marco Rodriguez)
Mike Moroff	...	Gustavo Leon
Emilio Rivera	...	Garza
George Sharperson	...	Big Sexy
Malieek Straughter	...	Overdose
Alice Amter	...	Marta
Jim Boeke	...	Bad Cop

Also Known As:

El Diablo (USA) (working title)
Extreme Rage (Germany)
This Man's Dominion (USA) (working title)
Untitled Vin Diesel Project (USA) (working title)
Un hombre diferente (Argentina) (Panama) (poster title) (Peru) (Venezuela) [es]
Un homme à part (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Одиночка (Russia) [ru]
Bull Dog (Japan) [ja]
Diablo (Spain) [es]
Extreme Rage (Austria) [de]
Il risolutore - A man apart (Italy) [it]
Intikam atesi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Mila Shel Gever (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
O Vingador (Brazil) [pt]
O timoros (Greece) [el]
Payback Time (Denmark) [da]
Túl mindenen (Hungary) [hu]
Un hombre solo (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong graphic violence, language, drug content and sexuality.

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:18SG | Iceland:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | USA:R (certificate #39727) | Philippines:R-18 | Spain:18 | Hungary:18 | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Brazil:16 | Denmark:15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Inyokern, California, USA

Company:

"DIA" Productions GmbH & Co. KG

Trivia:

The scene where Sean beats the dealer to death was cut by seven seconds. The original scene featured the dealer spitting out teeth and bloody pieces from his cheek. The scene was cut in order to get the R rating and not NC-17.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Sean and his group get in the silver car to leave the plane hanger, the car has a temporary license sticker in its rear window. When the car pulls out of the hanger, the temporary sticker is gone and there is a proper license plate where one should be.

Quotes:

Sean: What does the name Overdose mean to you?
Hollywood Jack: Over who?
Sean: OVERDOSE!
Hollywood Jack: There's a human being named Overdose?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Soundtrack:

Buena

Not spectacular, but pretty good

One of those films which I don't think the current IMDb score (5.4) actually captures.

It's a bit formulaic - ex-bad-boy super-DEA agent gets the bad guy, pays with the life of his nearest & dearest, and goes out for revenge. Even I saw the reveal at the end coming way-off (I rarely do), but I still really enjoyed this film.

I thought it was very well plotted and paced; Vin Diesel played it gruff, but mostly low-key (no huge sobbing moments, or tearful walks on the beach, which was refreshing). His character, along with that of his friend, were fleshed out into more-rounded human beings than the usual action hero & sidekick. The enemies were straight out of 'the Big Book Of Drug Dealers and Cartel lackeys', but Timothy Oliphant was amusing and well played, as ever (also a great turn in The Good Girl).

And I found the violence viscerally satisfying & gritty, without being seriously glorified, or venturing (too far) into Bad Boys style Hollywood explosions, helicopter gunships, LA car chases etc.

Most surprising of all (to me) is that Vin agreed to grow his hair out a little - as you would in an extended hospital stay - and roughen up his otherwise clean shaven / macho male model looks. Wandering around with the goatee, he reminded me more of the guy out of Cypress Hill.

Kudos also goes to the ending. It could have finished two scenes earlier than it did, but the tying up of loose ends wasn't done in an overly sentimental or triumphant way, which was similarly refreshing.

Good screenplay, good acting (in a pretty standard film like this), and mostly avoiding the really obvious clichés of plot & character. I really enjoyed it. On the scale of revenge movies - it's not as good as Mel Gibson's remake of Payback, or The Rock in the remake of Walking Tall. But it would hold its own alongside them in a collector's box set.