A Man Apart (2003)

(In theaters, April 2003) Yes, I think Vin Diesel is The Man, the most credible action hero on the market right now. But even he can’t save this tepid attempt at a “thriller”, packed with stuff we’ve seen elsewhere before. It’s not as if the “crazed vigilante cop” shtick hadn’t been done before, but to do it with such a lack of energy is almost fatal. The film never plays to Diesel’s strength, except for two scenes (a shakedown in front of a hairdresser, and an undercover transaction that goes horribly wrong) that seem out of place. Replace Diesel with some other no-name actor, and A Man Apart would have gone straight to video. Everything else is average and scarcely worth paying attention to.