A Man Apart | All Grit, No Grip

This week on Forgotten Cinema, we’re diving into A Man Apart, the early-2000s action thriller(?) starring Vin Diesel that Butler remembered enjoying as a teenager…but that nostalgia didn’t survive the rewatch.

To put it bluntly: neither of us are fans. While Vin Diesel gives a solid performance and clearly commits to the emotional weight of the story, the film around him just never comes together. The plot is unfocused, the writing is weak, and the action, despite aiming for gritty intensity, lacks the impact and clarity that make this kind of movie work.

A Textbook Example of Early-2000s Misfires

What makes A Man Apart interesting, though, is how perfectly it reflects the era it came from. It checks every box of the early-2000s “hard-edged revenge thriller,” but hits all of them in the wrong way:

• Gritty aesthetic without the story to support it

• Emotional stakes without the character depth

• Action scenes without momentum or punch

• A revenge arc that feels more obligatory than earned

  
  

It’s a reminder that style alone can’t carry a movie, especially when that style feels assembled from leftover pieces of other, better action films.

A Man Apart: A Messy Movie…But a Fun Episode

Ironically, the film’s shortcomings make for a pretty entertaining discussion. We break down why A Man Apart collapses under its own intentions, how its editing and tone undercut the drama, and why the movie feels like a rough draft of something that could’ve worked with a sharper script and more focused direction. Sometimes the best episodes come from the worst movies and this one definitely qualifies.

A rough watch, but a fun conversation.

And if you need to wash out that bad taste in your mouth, check out a good movie with Vin Diesel that we also covered - Pitch Black.

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