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A Man Apart (2003) More at IMDbPro »

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120 comments in total

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32 out of 40 people found the following comment useful :-
Not spectacular, but pretty good, 20 October 2004

Author: tenten76 from London

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.

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22 out of 30 people found the following comment useful :-
Decent action film, 22 February 2004

Author: stamper from The Netherlands

Lately, i do not watch too many ‘old-fashioned' action films like this. This has mostly to do with the fact that action films are somehow always the same. The only things that can make an action film decent are not too many corny scenes and some comedic elements. Take for instance Cradle 2 the Grave, which I saw a couple of weeks back. Now the action was pretty OK, there were some funny elements, but there were some stupid things as well (such as a corny ending). Or Bulletproof Monk, which was a bit corny overall. While A Man Apart is certainly not a good film, it is one of the better ‘old school' action films I've seen lately. The acting is decent, there are no corny elements and there is a good mix of emotion / softness and action. The film might not be suited for the big screen, but it does well as a rental (BTW: the film was shot between 2000 and 2001 and got shelved at first). The film certainly has some interesting elements and is better than most of Seagal's or Van Damme's new films. I was not disappointed to have rented it.

6,75 out of 10

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27 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
Pretty good, 1 October 2003
Author: movieman_kev from United States

Vin Diesel is MUCH better in this drama/action film then he was in his last action film, "XXX". His performance as a broken man who just lost his wife to drug dealer, & his violent crusade against said criminals, while not original in the least, does captivate you. As far as action movies go, this one can hang with the better of them. The action doesn't mix too well with the drama though...

My Grade: B-

Eye Candy: 2 topless women, 1 erotic dancer (Former Man Show Juggy, Paula Harrison) in see-through cloth

Extras: 7 Deleted Scenes (the first having 1 more topless chick, the 7th being an extended version of the aforementioned Juggy's dance) ; Trailers for (of all things)Run, Ronnie, Run & Highwaymen

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11 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
A Man Apart doesn't set itself apart from other vigilante movies, 26 March 2007

Author: view_and_review from California

When I rate a movie or give my opinion of a movie, I try my best to compare it to other movies like it. For example, if it is a drama about family, I use other dramas about families as a benchmark. "A Man Apart" is definitely a vigilante film. Sean Vetter's (Vin Diesel) wife was murdered and he is out to find the killer. If you want a reference for a vigilante film, see just about any Charles Bronson movie, or some of the movies with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwazzenegger, or Steven Segal. One of my personal favorite vigilante movies is the Denzel Washington starred "Man on Fire".

Comparatively, "A Man Apart" doesn't quite match up. Whether it was how the movie was done, or it was Vin Diesel, I didn't quite feel the pain of Sean when he lost his wife. This type of movie is dependent upon the drive of the main character and getting the audience to understand or feel that same drive. Sure, most of us would understand a man seeking revenge or justice for the wrongful death of his wife, but the character still has to have some type of charisma or believability. Vin Diesel is too one dimensional to show a wide range of emotions, and there weren't enough scenes showing the bond between Sean and his wife for me to be too upset when she was killed. In the end, the movie was about a vigilante seeking justice who I wanted to succeed, but I was still indifferent about.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Action Packed to the Limit, a spectacular thriller., 13 April 2003

Author: IamtheRegalTreatment from United States

This movie was so intense that even though my friends were trying to lure me away from the screen, I just couldn't. I was locked on to the movie screen, watching everything that went on. Vin Diesel did a terrific job as the main role in this movie. He showed intensity, emotion, fear, jealousy, and heart through-out the whole picture, it was just inspiration.

The movie starts out with a special police force designed to be cops that looked like they hated cops at the same time, to break into a party of drug dealers and stop the corporation. Their mission was successful while entertaining. After, Sean Vetter (Vin Diesel) and his wife Stacy (Jacqueline Obradors) throw a celebration party at their beach house. The party ends, and we see them asleep in their beds. We hear movement outside of the sliding glass door by the bedroom, Sean wakes up, opening his eyes once the door is silently open. "GET DOWN!" yells Sean to his wife as the two men at the door pull out their guns and start to fire. Sean grabs his pistol and tries to shoot them both down, as he is shot in the ribs. He runs outside after them, and shoots one of them down before he can escape. Sean walks over to him, yelling at him about coming into his house, as he shoots him once again while he is already down on the ground. He asks who he is, demanding an answer. The only thing the man says is, "You will never stop Diablo." and then dies. Sean runs back into his bedroom telling his wife to call 911. She is still lying on the ground. He picks her up and puts her on the bed. He then asks if she's ok, and she keeps repeating over and over, "I'm ok....I'm ok" Sean dials 911 on his cell phone and when a woman answers, he doesn't even speak, because he is watching his wife die in his arms. The woman on the phone keeps saying, "I can't hear you sir, please speak up." but Sean doesn't, then the screen turns completely white.

This is only the beginning of this almost 2 hour picture. Through-out the rest, Sean is determined to find this so called Diablo and finish him off. I gave this movie a 10, and I rarely do that, but it deserves that rating. I enjoyed sitting and watching it, as it moved from scene to scene. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Concerning the action, starts off fresh but by the end is just getting repetitive!!!, 4 July 2005

Author: jtindahouse from Nelson, New Zealand

A Man Apart is nothing special but after the first 15 minutes I didn't think I'd be saying that in my comment. It starts off really well, exciting, good characters and it was moving along nice and quickly. While the good characters and the moving along kept up throughout the movie, the most important thing didn't - the excitement. The action sequences just became like Vin Diesel's acting voice - exactly the same the whole movie. The director tried his best to vary it (bombs, choking .etc) but these things never seemed to have any effect, for what reason I don't know. Also the storyline was unbelievably predictable.

There are a lot of action movie out there, a lot - you're not going to find anything new in this one.

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10 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Not Vin's Greatest Movie, 18 April 2006

Author: Angelusgirlever from Egypt

I watched this movie a few days ago, i have to admit it's different from Vin's other movies, the story did not make much sense in some parts,it felt a little overcooked in others., and slow paced in the middle. While the movie had the explosions, gun fights and car chases, I felt that it was not about the violence/revenge as much as it was about Vin's character mourning his wife's death and choosing to do so in anger, it was his way of screaming, letting the world hear his pain.

The thing that really effected me is the relationship between Sean and Stacey, the connection they had, even though we did not see much in the beginning of the movie, i felt that they had a strong bond. The acting - in between the violent scenes is not half bad, specially Vin's scene at the hospital, it's heart breaking. It is a good start for Vin in to do more " human " normal everyday roles, we have to respect the guy for that.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
don't have to be a Vin Diesel fan to like this movie, 9 April 2003
Author: Kacey from Texas

My friends wanted to see this movie so badly, but I wasn't really interested. I'm not the biggest Vin Diesel fan, and for some strange reason the commercials didn't really appeal to me. But I went along with them anyway to see this movie. I think this movie is just excellent. It is probably Vin Diesel's best film, but I haven't seen too many of his films so I probably wouldn't know. Anyway, I think Diesel did a great job in the part of Sean Vetter. With this role, you see Diesel sort of more sensitive but at the same time bad boy action star (he kills a man with his bare hands).

The acting is pretty good in this movie too. One person that stood out in my mind was Larenz Tate who played Demetrius Hicks. His acting was top of the line. Timothy Olyphant was also wonderful. When I saw this movie I didn't even know he was going to be in it. I do like Timothy's style of acting. He puts a little humor in his evil character. I remember he played a drug dealer in the movie Go (one of my favorite movies), and in this movie he did just the same. Overall, if you like a movie that is jam packed with action but also has some sensitivity, this is the movie for you. Seriously, you don't have to be a Vin fan to enjoy this film. I think this should have been number 1 at the box office this weekend because I saw Phone Booth, and it is really not worthy of that spot. So go out and see A Man Apart.

*** of ****

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Bad news, 18 September 2005

Author: ctomvelu from usa

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A MAN APART reaffirms my belief that Vin D. cannot act. He recites dialog as if he were reading it for the first time off a TelePrompter. His facial expressions range from A to A. And he displays all the conviction and sincerity of a used car salesman. Maybe that's why his best role was as a shady sales guy in THE BOILER ROOM. In this half-baked actioner from half-based director Gary Gray, our man Vinnie plays a DEA agent whose apprehension of a Mexican drug lord results in his being injured and his wife being killed in retaliation by some shadowy figure known as Diablo. Why he and his wife are targeted and not any of the other DEA agents involved is a mystery best left to the half-baked screen writers. Anyhow, Vin all too predictably goes on the rampage, albeit sort of half-heartedly. For his troubles, he continually gets beat up and shot. Of course, in the end, he gets the bad guy. Now here's the interesting "twist:" the bad guy, who is supposed to be this mysterious Diablo, turns out to be exactly who we knew it was from the beginning, the very guy Vin busted in the first place. So much for suspense. Also, Vin, who is now on leave from the DEA, goes from a major shootout sequence to a rather abrupt confrontation with the bad guy. Vin walks up and tells him he's under arrest, more or less. And then Vin simply walks away as about a hundred gendarmes suddenly appear out of thin air and overcome the bad guy's minions. End of flick. It would seem here is a whole section missing from this film. It is either the worst script or the worst editing I have experienced in a long time. The action scenes are few, and get confusing at times, especially in a major firefight halfway through. Chalk that up to the MTV-style editing. I could be kind and say a real firefight can be confusing. But, nah. It's the editing. Anyhow, let's make things worse. Several key cast members are black, supposedly former fellow street gang members turned avenging good guys (didn't I already see this in XXX 2?). They talk in indecipherable street lingo and hug and pose a lot. How authentic. I call it pandering. I didn't realize I would be watching a blaxploitation flick, or I might have safely skipped this.

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6 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Below average..., 4 May 2007

Author: buiger from Monaco

A slightly below average movie. The film starts off well enough, but it soon gets entangled into scores of clichés as old as the cinematic art itself. Another drawback in this motion picture is Diesel's acting (mind you, I had just praised his work in 'Knockaround guys' a couple of days ago). It is not up to par, he does not manage to inspire any feeling for his character in the viewer, thence we cannot sympathize with his pain. The plot itself is a cliché in it's own way, there is nothing new there to awaken our curiosity, and considering that the screenplay, production, camera and Direction are all nothing more than average, we are left with a product that will not remain in our memories for very long.

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