A Man Apart


release year: 2003
genre: action/drama
viewing setting: home DVD, 2/1/05

synopsis: When a narcotics agent's wife is killed, he seeks revenge.

impressions: It was okay, but it didn't provide the raw action I'd hoped for. Basically, it was as much a drama (about friendship and revenge) as it was an action movie (with gunplay and fistfights.) It just seemed to slow down for me at times; the ending was terribly anticlimactic. Plus, quite honestly, I can do without the main good guys calling each other "dog" every other sentence. I will say that there were plenty of gunfights and explosions, and even one scene where Vin Diesel beats the crap out of somebody.

things to watch for: Just before the big raid in the early part of the movie, there's a big party in the drug lord's house which features two women dancing with each other.

something this movie has that no other movie has: A little girl using a martial arts move to flip Vin Diesel to the ground.

acting: Vin Diesel did a good job as a former thug who turned his life around and became a cop. Larenz Tate was great as a partner who really did give a damn. Timothy Olyphant makes a good slick sleazy bad guy.

final word: Good cop/revenge movie, may not stand up to repeated viewings.

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