A Man Apart (2003)

A man known as Diablo emerges to head a drug cartel after the previous leader is imprisoned.

Director:

F. Gary Gray

Writers:

Christian Gudegast, Paul T. Scheuring (as Paul Scheuring)

Stars:

Vin Diesel, Timothy Olyphant, Larenz Tate

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vin Diesel	...	Sean Vetter
Larenz Tate	...	Demetrius Hicks
Timothy Olyphant	...	Hollywood Jack
Geno Silva	...	Memo Lucero
Jacqueline Obradors	...	Stacy Vetter
Steve Eastin	...	Ty Frost
Juan Fernández	...	Mateo Santos
Jeff Kober	...	Pomona Joe
Marco Rodríguez	...	Hondo (as Marco Rodriguez)
Mike Moroff	...	Gustavo Leon
Emilio Rivera	...	Garza
George Sharperson	...	Big Sexy
Malieek Straughter	...	Overdose
Alice Amter	...	Marta
Jim Boeke	...	Bad Cop

Storyline

Sean Vetter and Demetrius Hicks are members of the DEA who are fighting an ongoing drug war on the California/Mexico border, they are most successful at it because of their edge of growing up on the street and being thugs converted to cops. The DEA busts one of the major players by the name of "Memo" Lucero and imprison him in the United States but then a major player named Diablo then takes over the business and now he is now the major player targeted by Vetter and his team. But when Vetter's wife is killed in a botched hit organized by Diablo, he seeks revenge against those responsible and in the process has to seek help from the imprisoned Lucero in order to catch Diablo. But in the process, Vetter and Hicks have to fight their way up the chain to get to Diablo but it's easier said than done when all Vetter can focus on is revenge...

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Plot Keywords:

bust | drug cartel | justice | tragic hero | murder of a nude man | 

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Taglines:

When they took his love... they took his life. On April 4th. he's taking it back.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic violence, language, drug content and sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

After poor test screenings, New Line had 15 Minutes (2001) director John Herzfeld come in and shoot some additional scenes - notably the ending, and cemetery finale - to wrap things up. Also, dialogue scenes were cut, and some scenes also shortened to speed up the pace. This caused the film to miss several release dates. Regular Herzfeld composer J. Peter Robinson also worked on some new score to jazz things up. New Line also had to change the name from El Diablo, due to a law suit from the game developer Blizzard. Potential titles included Push The Limits, Diablo (no El in front), Sean Vetter, Vetter and This Man's Dominion. A Man Apart was finally chosen as the studio felt it suited the theme of the film.

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Goofs

Shadow of Camera is visible on Memo Lucero's taxi towards the beginning of the film.

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Quotes

Sean Vetter: [to a stripper] Get the fuck off my lap.

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Bernie Mac/Good Charlotte (2003)

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Soundtracks

Gobinday
Written by Erin Kamler, Dan Powell and Adam Milo Smalley (as Adam Smalley)
Performed by Mantra Girl
Courtesy of ADAMAS Records

User Reviews

Decent action film

Lately, i do not watch too many ‘old-fashioned' action films like this. This has mostly to do with the fact that action films are somehow always the same. The only things that can make an action film decent are not too many corny scenes and some comedic elements. Take for instance Cradle 2 the Grave, which I saw a couple of weeks back. Now the action was pretty OK, there were some funny elements, but there were some stupid things as well (such as a corny ending). Or Bulletproof Monk, which was a bit corny overall. While A Man Apart is certainly not a good film, it is one of the better ‘old school' action films I've seen lately. The acting is decent, there are no corny elements and there is a good mix of emotion / softness and action. The film might not be suited for the big screen, but it does well as a rental (BTW: the film was shot between 2000 and 2001 and got shelved at first). The film certainly has some interesting elements and is better than most of Seagal's or Van Damme's new films. I was not disappointed to have rented it.

6,75 out of 10

Details

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

4 April 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

El Diablo

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$36,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,200,000, 6 April 2003

Gross USA:

$26,736,098

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$44,350,926

Company Credits

Production Co:

"DIA" Productions GmbH & Co. KG, Joseph Nittolo Entertainment, New Line Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1