*** Official "A MAN APART" Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Andrew s wells]

Just Got back from the theater, and let me tell you this is one enjoyable movie. Some parts are a bit over the top but not so far as to take you out of the experience. Vin is hardcore in this movie when dealing with the thugs, but also shows a very caring family man side, which to the best of my knowledge has not been seen before. Perfect blend of action and drama in this one. I dont really want to go into details, since i, not the best reviewer, as i dont want to give anything away , lets just say i was wrong about the guy he was after. This is the first movie i have seen this year that i would go see again without hesitation.. hope any of you who see it enjoy it as much as i did.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "A Man Apart". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy

 

[Jeff Adams]

I did go see this on Saturday night and do have to say that I was VERY impressed. It is easily Vin Diesel's best movie. There is actually a descent plot, just the right amount of violence and action and there is also pretty good acting by most people in it. Larenz Tate was awesome, best movie I have seen him in since Menace II Society. Timothy Olyphant was also very good. He brought a lot of personality and humor to the movie. For those of you who don't know who he is, he is the X dealer in GO and in Gone in 60 Seconds. If people are judging or avoiding this movie due to comparing it to XxX, don't! This is nothing like XxX. My wife hated XxX but really enjoyed this movie. If I could sum it all up, it is a mixture of Training Day, Dark Blue,Traffic,Kingpin and the video game Max Payne. And to Joshua, you said that it won't top Dark Blue. Well maybe not at the box office but I enjoyed it much more than Dark Blue. I give this movie an A-. This will definately be a purchase when it comes out on dvd.

 

[Jeff Adams]

Andrew, I am totally with you. I loved this movie. About half way through the movie, I whispered to my wife" I can't believe EWeekly gave this a D." They must have watched a different movie than I did. They praised Dark Blue and dogged this one. I don't get it. I liked A man Apart a lot more than I did Dark Blue. I have not enjoyed a movie at the theater's as much as I did with this one in a long time. The movie did not go overboard with anything. It was a perfect balance between plot, violence,action,humor and drama. I am going to see it again with my friend next weekend. Please don't judge this movie on his last one XxX. It is not even close. My wife hated XxX and really enjoyed this one,that says a lot. This will most definately be a dvd purchase

 

[Ryan_C]

This is an excellent movie, I saw it this afternoon with my mom. As someone said, great blend of drama and action, probably more on the drama though. I think this movie proves that Vin Diesel has much more to offer than just the action roles he has been doing as of late. I hope to see him in some more roles like this. I will definitely get this when it comes out on DVD.

 

[Alex Spindler]

A Man Apart - a fairly serious "cop on the edge" revenge movie the likes we haven't seen since Charles Bronson started looking like a dried tomato. It even has the "give me your badge" scene that forms the very identity of this genre.

Vin is suitably tortured by his loss and revenge. I also got some fun out of Timothy Olyphant's flashy drug distributor, who gave some nice levity to the film.

When asked about what I was expecting of the film before I saw it, I said, "I hear Vin Diesel shoots some guys". Vin does indeed shoot some guys. However, more of the film is spent covering the machinations of the drug trade than on action scenes. This isn't necessarily bad, but I was expecting a bit more action.

Not a bad movie overall, but I was hoping for a bit more.

:star: :star: 1/2

 

[Adam_S]

:star::star:½

This movie is much better than what I was expecting. The script (excepting a few moments like that tacked on end that reeked of test audience stink), was solid. By no means was it a great script, absolutely nothing worth quoting, but the dialogue was pretty real, and despite the profusion of profanities (which weren't used as dialogue but in moments of tension), was very good at developing the vin diesal character (I can absolutely never remember names unless I see the film multiple times). Diesal did some very good acting, I think the rage aspects he pulled off were especially impressive (good believable rage is really difficult to pull off, but when he went ballistic on the guy that 'hit' his wife I was stunned, excellent work there). Based on this and Pitch Black, I would say that he's a much better actor than Stallone or Schwarzenegger or other aging action stars, but up there with Bruce Willis (possibly) in talent. One thing to like: they took some time to develop that he was a very decent guy before his life fell apart, and after that is when he began smoking was full of rage etc.

It's very clear that this film is not made for cineastes or even film savvy audiences, but for an audience that needs to be spoonfed certain things. This is most obvious during Diesel's first scene returning home from the hospital. They fade over the previous scenes with his wife on top of him in order to show what he's thinking. A director that trusted his audience more wouldn't need the visuals, at the most it would be limited to sounds, and the best would simply be just a long silent take on Diesal.

My biggest problem with the film is the multiple test audience endings. It seems like they had two good places to end on, but then didn't. The first time, I think it was because it would be a downer ending. The second time perhaps because it was too unclear/unresolved. The final two minutes is so different in tone, look, dialouge and acting quality that I wonder if they were shoots that were done against the director's wishes and possibly not even done by him.

the action sequences are nice, but nothing spectacular. The plot is very basic and spells things out very clearly to take you from stage to stage. There are some genuine good moments in the film (gravedigging). The film's biggest weakness is that the audience has absolutely no worries about whether or not Diesal will live. The man's freakin superman, doesn't matter how much you shoot him he barely slows down. on the other hand I was concerned for his black partner, I thought it was very likely he would die, and was half expecting it as well. Compare this to Die Hard, McClane endures abuse on top of abuse, and before the end, I wasn't sure if he would make it, much less if he'd be in any physical shape to attempt a rescue of his wife.

Made for the lowest common denominator, a story that doesn't say anything, solid script (some holes, but nothing that doesn't distract you unless you think on it afterward), good pacing, better than average acting, and quite entertaining. It's very good dumb fun, much more so than Dreamcatcher, which just managed to piss off and alienate (heh) everyone in the audience by the films end.

Adam