A Man Apart

In their attempt to make a shoot-'em-up with a soul, ready-to-be-crowned action king Vin Diesel and director F. Gary Gray (The Negotiator, The Italian Job) wind up with a dark and handsome movie that's less than exciting and only superficially deep. As a DEA bad-ass on the warpath against an anonymous drug kingpin who killed his wife (a development you see coming the minute our hero stares lovingly into the eyes of a beautiful actress without any name recognition), Diesel seems to have taken the part so that he can work on his emotional range without straying too far from his muscle-rippling, shaved-head, five-o'clock-shadow, tough Guy-with-a-capital-G screen persona. While he does sell his heartbrokenness (mostly by holding head in hands in front of some beautiful ocean-side sunsets), Diesel and Gray know that's not what the audience really wants to see--so they break out the ammo for several thunderous, chaotic, hard-to-follow shootouts. But with its off-the-shelf plot developments (Diesel becomes a loose cannon, is forced to turn in his badge, etc.), and cliché peripheral drug-trade characters, A Man Apart falls apart. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include both widescreen and full screen versions, seven deleted scenes (10 min.), trailers, and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: a skimpy extras package for a so-so film.] (R. Blackwelder)