Vin Diesel is a man apart
When Vin Diesel starred in the movie XXX, he was billed as the new action hero that out-Bond James Bond
Film: A Man Apart
Stars: Vin Diesel and Larenz Tate
Director: F. Gary Gray
Screenplay: Christian Gudegast et al
Running time: 110 minutes
Rating: R for strong language, violence
and sexuality
Showing at Cineplex, Garden City from Friday
Preview by: Kalungi Kabuye
When Vin Diesel starred in the movie XXX, he was billed as the new action hero that out-Bond James Bond. But it seemed it was not just yet. Three years after XXX, Diesel is still trying to make his mark.
So in comes A Man Apart, an action movie to stop all action movies, or so the distributors said. But critics have given Vin Diesel a pat on the back for finally acting instead of just blowing things up.
In A Man Apart, Diesel plays Drug enforcement Agency (DEA) Sean Vetter, whom together with his partner Demetrius Hicks (Larenz Tate), operates around the Mexico-California border, trying to shut down the drug corridor that runs here from Colombia. They are both former street thugs turned-into-good guys, so they know how to deal with the bad guys.
After a long trail, they eventually track down and capture the drug lord named Memo Lucero (Geno Silva).
But no sooner than Lucero is put away than another, more ruthless drug lord, the mysterious Diablo props up. He soon orders a hit on Vetter and his wife. In the ensuing mess, Vetter’s wife, Stacy (Jacqueline Obradors), is killed. This is when Diesel is credited for finally doing some acting, when he portrays a man in pain, as he goes to Mexico to find the man who killed his wife, and get his revenge.
“While the film favours his brawn over heartfelt sentiment, it plays to Diesel’s strength, which is laser-focused intensity.
“But here the intensity is focused on a grieving widower, which hands Diesel great scenes of pain which he plays wonderfully,†wrote the ‘unemployed critic.’
Vetter is man in pain, and it shows when in a drug raid gone bad, three fellow agents are dead, after which the chief takes away Vetter’s badge.
Undaunted, he goes to the border to find Diablo. It turns out he needs a lot of help, especially from the imprisoned Lucero.
“With Vin Diesel as the headliner, all we need do is to wait for stuff to blow up,†Michael Elliott, Movie Parables.
“Gray directs with a determination that style will win out over substance. It doesn’t, but the energy he brings to the venture makes a pedestrian movie look far sharper than it deserves,†Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter.
“Though it wasn’t planned this way, it’s amusing to view A Man Apart as an allegory for the war in Iraq.
Stars: Vin Diesel and Larenz Tate
Director: F. Gary Gray
Screenplay: Christian Gudegast et al
Running time: 110 minutes
Rating: R for strong language, violence
and sexuality
Showing at Cineplex, Garden City from Friday
Preview by: Kalungi Kabuye
When Vin Diesel starred in the movie XXX, he was billed as the new action hero that out-Bond James Bond. But it seemed it was not just yet. Three years after XXX, Diesel is still trying to make his mark.
So in comes A Man Apart, an action movie to stop all action movies, or so the distributors said. But critics have given Vin Diesel a pat on the back for finally acting instead of just blowing things up.
In A Man Apart, Diesel plays Drug enforcement Agency (DEA) Sean Vetter, whom together with his partner Demetrius Hicks (Larenz Tate), operates around the Mexico-California border, trying to shut down the drug corridor that runs here from Colombia. They are both former street thugs turned-into-good guys, so they know how to deal with the bad guys.
After a long trail, they eventually track down and capture the drug lord named Memo Lucero (Geno Silva).
But no sooner than Lucero is put away than another, more ruthless drug lord, the mysterious Diablo props up. He soon orders a hit on Vetter and his wife. In the ensuing mess, Vetter’s wife, Stacy (Jacqueline Obradors), is killed. This is when Diesel is credited for finally doing some acting, when he portrays a man in pain, as he goes to Mexico to find the man who killed his wife, and get his revenge.
“While the film favours his brawn over heartfelt sentiment, it plays to Diesel’s strength, which is laser-focused intensity.
“But here the intensity is focused on a grieving widower, which hands Diesel great scenes of pain which he plays wonderfully,†wrote the ‘unemployed critic.’
Vetter is man in pain, and it shows when in a drug raid gone bad, three fellow agents are dead, after which the chief takes away Vetter’s badge.
Undaunted, he goes to the border to find Diablo. It turns out he needs a lot of help, especially from the imprisoned Lucero.
“With Vin Diesel as the headliner, all we need do is to wait for stuff to blow up,†Michael Elliott, Movie Parables.
“Gray directs with a determination that style will win out over substance. It doesn’t, but the energy he brings to the venture makes a pedestrian movie look far sharper than it deserves,†Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter.
“Though it wasn’t planned this way, it’s amusing to view A Man Apart as an allegory for the war in Iraq.