This is How Movies Should Be Made

Better Late Then Never

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Blistering performances.

This was by far vin's greatest movie along with the original fast and furious. The best movie of all time as of date was "point break" in 91, this comes in close to second. Hollywood is business that incorporates much talent but money comes first, that's why you have ultra non talented actors like chris pratt or J-Lo and i guess that's why vin has made all these terrible editions of the fast and furious, etc. Most big studio movies are just projected formulas about what the mainstream audience wants etc. This was a big studio movie that was kickass and cool and the best thing vin has done, he should have done tons like this, just like patrick should have done tons like point break .

A Man Apart is a more gritty, more realistic type of film than leading man Vin Diesel usually participates in. Vin Diesel is a former LA gangbanger that is a top undercover DEA agent. When a big bust headed by Diesel is successful in bringing down a Cartel drug lord, it is not without repercussions. In retaliation, The Cartel sends shooters to Vin Diesel's crib. Of course they all end up in body bags, but not without murdering his wife. This has Vin Diesel on a all out roid rage until the film's conclusion. He enlists the help of his partner and a homie from the hood, Big Sexy to avenge his wife's death. Vin Diesel now operates on both sides of the law to achieve his means of street justice and vengeance. It seems that this film was meant to be more of dramatic piece than one as action driven as this is. Vin Diesel is cool, but he lacks range as an actor. However, he is real good at kicking ass and acting hard at all times. His support cast is pretty strong though and the film itself is pretty quick paced, action packed and is pretty entertaining. A Man Apart may have some flaws and Vin did not possess the acting chops to play a character that is not a superhero, but otherwise the film is fairly cohesive and well done.

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.

This is maybe not one of the films I would have chosen; however, on recommendation (you know who you are) I decided to give it a chance. There's nothing earth shattering about it I'm afraid, just another run of the mill Action/Adventure with plenty of plot twists and an enormous body count. The Mexican drug cartels are the bad guys this time and a rough-tough DEA agent and his partner are the good guys. I'll tell you what I thought after this brief summary.A group of DEA agents have been allowed into Mexico to participate in the arrest of one of the drug cartel's top men, Memo Lucero. Amongst the agents are Sean Vetter and his partner, Demetrius Hicks. The take down goes well and Lucero ends up in a US jail. At this point a character named 'Diablo' makes himself known; taking over parts of Lucero's operation and killing his people. Eventually the 'Diablo' cartel turns their attention to Sean; attacks his house and kills his wife. Seeking revenge, Sean visits Lucero in jail; he cannot initially help him, but when his own wife is killed, things change. Can Sean and Demetrius track down who is behind 'Diablo'? To do so they will have to sometimes stray outside the law! I won't say any more or the Spoiler Police (DEA division) will have my badge (again).Quite well made though I did find the action scenes a little confusing at times. Decent performances all round, although I felt nobody was really stretched; and so honourable mentions go to; Vin Diesel as Sean Vetter, Larenz Tate as Demetrius Hicks, Timothy Olyphant, woefully underused, as Hollywood Jack and Geno Silva as Memo Lucero.Many films have been made on this subject before and there have been many films of this genre. The hard thing to do is to make a film of this type that doesn't fall into cliché. Unfortunately this one does, and it suffers for it. A much better film of this type (IMO) would be Tony Scott's 'Man on Fire' (2004). I guess I can sum it up by saying 'it does what it says on the tin', this film is what it is and, although a little too cliché for my liking, is still worth a look if this is your kind of thing.My score: 5.9/10.IMDb Score: 5.8/10 (based on 19,342 votes at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: 11/100 (based on 130 reviews counted at the time of going to press). Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 40/100 (based on 82,184 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).