By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter
Vin Diesel stars as Sean Vetter in a scene from the movie 'A Man Apart'. - Contributed
THE WORD that most appropriately describes A Man Apart, starring Vin Diesel, is 'interesting'. That word fits because it is so ambiguous. The movie presents enjoyable moments, but the whole is simply unimpressive.
The story surrounds Sean Vetter's (Vin Diesel) quest to avenge the murder of his wife. This leads to a string of very predictable twists and could-be turns in the plot, which turns the movie into something akin to a recycling plant for action movies. The murder of Vetter's wife, Stacey (played by Jacqueline Obrados), comes after his law enforcement team conducts a career bust in the Mexican drug trade. Vetter's arch nemesis, with whom he develops something of an awkward relationship throughout, is drug don Memo Lucero, played by Gino Silva.
Essentially, A Man Apart is a combination of the Commando-type of movies of the 1980s, mixed in with the more sensitive male heroes who emerged in the late 1990s, as well as a little touch from Silence of the Lambs. This hero is expected to do more than run from explosions and grunt at appropriate moments. As such, though much emphasis is placed on Diesel's brute strength and bulging muscles (he spends almost the entire movie in clinging T-shirts) he is still allowed to cry. His tears are not so moving as those produced by Mel Gibson, but they are manly-enough drippings.
ANGRY MAN
It is supposedly the death of Vetter's wife which makes him a man apart. However, he seems to be more of an angry man than a man apart. Unlike your solitary hero figure, sitting in forests building elaborate traps, Vetter has a nice support system from friends and co-workers.
There were moments in the movie where it seemed that the writers, Christian Guedagast and Paul Sheuring, were intent upon setting the movie apart. However, they seemed to have got distracted each time the plot attempted to veer into originality.
Diesel himself did a good job of investing some emotion into the stereotype of the Rambo action hero. However, if it were not for Diesel's height advantange, there were moments when his co-star Larenz Tate would have towered over him. In fact, the movie is able to survive because of two things; the first is the performances of the main and support actors working on this project.
SLIGHTLY APART
Secondly, A Man Apart stands slightly apart with the brand of violence it uses. In this post Matrix era, most action movies have moved toward making their heroes martial arts experts. This movie, however, depends on the good old-fashioned mayhem of a clenched fist. Such up-close and personal fighting was slightly refreshing.
Unfortunately, there were far too many moments when the action lagged and not to the benefit of either character or plot development. As it stands, A Man Apart seemed much longer than its 110 minutes. Vetter's touchy-feely scenes with his wife could certainly have been edited. How many minutes do we have to watch them standing close to know that he loved her? The same message was conveyed in The Fugitive with just one phone call, which left all the rest of the movie for the fun. That is one film that the creators should have borrowed from.
The end result is that whether or not Diesel is a man apart, this movie can certainly stand aside and let the real action flicks stand up.
