A Man Apart
Encyclopedia
A Man Apart is a 2003
action
-thriller-drama
film
directed by F. Gary Gray
and released by New Line Cinema
. The film stars Vin Diesel
and Larenz Tate
. The story follows undercover DEA agent Sean Vetter who is on a vendetta to take down a mysterious drug lord named Diablo after his wife is murdered. The film was released in the United States
on April 4, 2003.
) and Demetrius Hicks (Larenz Tate
), who are former criminals, are members of the U.S. DEA
working on the California
/Mexico
border. After arresting a drug baron named Memo Lucero (Geno Silva
), the mysterious "Diablo" steps in and organizes the assassination
of Vetter, but his wife, Stacy (Jacqueline Obradors
), is killed instead.
Looking for revenge, Vetter acts outside the law to punish his wife's murderers. To accomplish that, he asks Memo, who is now in prison, for help finding Diablo. With Hicks' help, he hunts every member of the cartel from the bottom to the top of the organization's hierarchy and finds that Memo is linked to the recent activities.
, the filmmakers spent four years researching and developing the project before the project got financed by New Line Cinema
. Being director F. Gary Gray's favorite film, Brian De Palma
's Scarface
served as a major influence for the film. Richard B. Valdemar, a veteran police officer of the Sheriff's Department in Los Angeles, served as a consultant. Filming took place at various locations in and around Los Angeles County during 2001.
A scene where Sean beats a dealer to death was cut by seven seconds in order to get an R rating instead of NC-17.
it currently holds a 10% "Rotten" with the general consensus being "Action and drama elements don't mix well in this cliched actioner". The film holds an average score of 36 out of 100 based on 32 reviews on another film review site Metacritic
.
on September 2, 2003 as a 'barebones' release, containing no special features except deleted scenes and trailers. It was criticised for poor video transfer.
in 2001 when the developer/publisher filed against New Line Cinema
, claiming breach of copyright on the name Diablo (a title used by Blizzard for a franchise of role-playing game
s). A court initially ruled in favor of Blizzard, but reversed its decision on appeal. Ultimately, New Line changed the film's name.
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
action
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
-thriller-drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by F. Gary Gray
F. Gary Gray
Felix Gary Gray is an American music video and film director.-Life and career:Gray began his career in 1992 with his music video for Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day." The video, a literal adaptation of the lyrics, was critically well received. He would go on to direct subsequent videos for Ice Cube,...
and released by New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
. The film stars Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx...
and Larenz Tate
Larenz Tate
Larenz Tate is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Tate was born on the west side of Chicago, Illinois, the son of Peggy and Larry Tate. He is the youngest of three siblings whose family moved to California when he was nine years old...
. The story follows undercover DEA agent Sean Vetter who is on a vendetta to take down a mysterious drug lord named Diablo after his wife is murdered. The film was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on April 4, 2003.
Plot
Sean Vetter (Vin DieselVin Diesel
Vin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx...
) and Demetrius Hicks (Larenz Tate
Larenz Tate
Larenz Tate is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Tate was born on the west side of Chicago, Illinois, the son of Peggy and Larry Tate. He is the youngest of three siblings whose family moved to California when he was nine years old...
), who are former criminals, are members of the U.S. DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
working on the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
/Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
border. After arresting a drug baron named Memo Lucero (Geno Silva
Geno Silva
Geno Silva is a Mexican American actor. He is best known for his role as The Skull in Scarface.Silva has also appeared in films such as 1941, Tequila Sunrise, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Amistad, Mulholland Dr. and A Man Apart.Despite a popular misconception, he is not related to either Henry...
), the mysterious "Diablo" steps in and organizes the assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of Vetter, but his wife, Stacy (Jacqueline Obradors
Jacqueline Obradors
Jacqueline Danell Obradors is an American actress.Obradors was born in San Fernando Valley, California to Argentine immigrants Angie, a church worker, and Albert Obradors, an office cleaning business owner. Before becoming an actress, Jaqueline was a cashier at Hughes Market in Canoga Park,...
), is killed instead.
Looking for revenge, Vetter acts outside the law to punish his wife's murderers. To accomplish that, he asks Memo, who is now in prison, for help finding Diablo. With Hicks' help, he hunts every member of the cartel from the bottom to the top of the organization's hierarchy and finds that Memo is linked to the recent activities.
Cast
- Vin DieselVin DieselVin Diesel is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx...
as DEA Agent Sean Vetter - Larenz TateLarenz TateLarenz Tate is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Tate was born on the west side of Chicago, Illinois, the son of Peggy and Larry Tate. He is the youngest of three siblings whose family moved to California when he was nine years old...
as DEA Agent Demetrius Hicks - Timothy OlyphantTimothy OlyphantTimothy David Olyphant is an American actor whose notable roles in television drama series include Deadwood as Seth Bullock, Justified as Raylan Givens, The Office as Danny Cordray, and Damages as Wes Krulik...
as Hollywood Jack - Geno SilvaGeno SilvaGeno Silva is a Mexican American actor. He is best known for his role as The Skull in Scarface.Silva has also appeared in films such as 1941, Tequila Sunrise, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Amistad, Mulholland Dr. and A Man Apart.Despite a popular misconception, he is not related to either Henry...
as Memo Lucero - Jacqueline ObradorsJacqueline ObradorsJacqueline Danell Obradors is an American actress.Obradors was born in San Fernando Valley, California to Argentine immigrants Angie, a church worker, and Albert Obradors, an office cleaning business owner. Before becoming an actress, Jaqueline was a cashier at Hughes Market in Canoga Park,...
as Stacy Vetter - Karrine SteffansKarrine SteffansKarrine Steffans is an American author, most notably of the Vixen series of books. She has worked as an actress and as a hip hop model, having appeared in more than 20 music videos, many by multiplatinum-selling rap artists...
as Candice Hicks - Steve EastinSteve EastinSteve Eastin is an American character actor. He has appeared in nearly 150 television and film roles throughout his decades long career....
as Supervisory DEA Agent Ty Frost - Juan FernándezJuan Fernández (actor)Juan de Jesus Fernández de Alarcon is a Dominican actor best known for his roles as the "bad-guy" character in his movies....
as Mateo Santos - Jeff KoberJeff KoberJeff Kober is an American actor, known for his performances on television and film.-Major work:Jeff Kober, a native of Billings, Montana, was born on December 18, 1953. Not satisfied with being a rancher, Kober relocated to the L.A. area in his twenties with the desire to become an actor...
as Pomona Joe - Marco Rodríguez as Hondo
- Mike Moroff as Gustavo Leon
- Emilio RiveraEmilio Rivera-Early life:Rivera was born in San Antonio, Texas of Mexican descent. He is the oldest child of four brothers and three sisters. As a young boy, he and his family moved to Elysian Valley, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.-Acting career:...
as Garza - George Sharperson as Big Sexy
- Malieek Straughter as Overdose
- Alice Amter as Marta
- Ken DavitianKen DavitianKenneth "Ken" Davitian is an American actor who is best known for his role as Borat's producer in the 2006 comedy film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, in which he speaks the Eastern dialect of Armenian throughout the film.-Life and...
as Ramon Cadena
Production
The premise originated from an idea by producers Joseph Nittolo of Nittolo Entertainment, and producing partners Tucker Tooley & Vincent Newman of Newman/Tooley Films based on their interest in films about the drug trade. Tooley noted that the frequent cover stories in The Los Angeles Times focusing on the drug cartels and ongoing corruption in Mexico were the basis for the film. With writers Christian Gudegast and Paul ScheuringPaul Scheuring
Paul T. Scheuring is an American screenwriter and director for films and television shows. His work includes the 2003 film A Man Apart and, more notably, the creation of the television drama Prison Break, for which he is also credited as an executive producer and Head Writer.-Biography:Scheuring...
, the filmmakers spent four years researching and developing the project before the project got financed by New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
. Being director F. Gary Gray's favorite film, Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
's Scarface
Scarface (1983 film)
Scarface is a 1983 American epic crime drama movie directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana...
served as a major influence for the film. Richard B. Valdemar, a veteran police officer of the Sheriff's Department in Los Angeles, served as a consultant. Filming took place at various locations in and around Los Angeles County during 2001.
A scene where Sean beats a dealer to death was cut by seven seconds in order to get an R rating instead of NC-17.
Box office performance
After a prolonged delay, A Man Apart was finally released April 4, 2003 in 2,459 theaters and grossed $11,019,224 on its opening weekend, ranking #3 at the box office. As of July 10, 2003, the film has a domestic box office gross of $26,736,098 and a foreign gross of $17,614,828, giving it a worldwide total of $44,350,926.Critical reception
The film was universally panned by critics. On the film review website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
it currently holds a 10% "Rotten" with the general consensus being "Action and drama elements don't mix well in this cliched actioner". The film holds an average score of 36 out of 100 based on 32 reviews on another film review site Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
.
Home video
A Man Apart was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on September 2, 2003 as a 'barebones' release, containing no special features except deleted scenes and trailers. It was criticised for poor video transfer.
Lawsuit
The film's original title "Diablo" was the subject of a lawsuit by the video game company Blizzard EntertainmentBlizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
in 2001 when the developer/publisher filed against New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
, claiming breach of copyright on the name Diablo (a title used by Blizzard for a franchise of role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s). A court initially ruled in favor of Blizzard, but reversed its decision on appeal. Ultimately, New Line changed the film's name.
Soundtrack
- "The Messenjah (Tweaker Remix)" - P.O.D
- "Straight Out of LineStraight Out of Line"Straight Out of Line" is the lead single from Godsmack's third studio album, Faceless. After its release, the song immediately ascended to number one on the Mainstream Rock chart, and hit the top 10 on the Modern Rock chart...
" - GodsmackGodsmackGodsmack is an American heavy metal band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of founder, frontman and songwriter Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin... - "Right Now" - KornKornKorn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
- "I'm Tired of Good, I'm Trying Bad" - Bootsy CollinsBootsy CollinsWilliam Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...
- "Touch" - SealSeal (musician)Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...
- "Descarga Total" - Maraca
- "Double Drums" - Peter Kruder
- "6 Underground6 Underground"6 Underground" is a song by the British band Sneaker Pimps, from their 1996 album Becoming X. First released as a single in the UK in October 1996, the song reached number 15 on the UK Singles Chart and had moderate radio airplay in the United States...
" - Sneaker PimpsSneaker PimpsSneaker Pimps were a British trip-hop band formed in Hartlepool, England in 1994. They are best known for their first album Becoming X and particularly the singles "6 Underground", "Spin Spin Sugar", and "Tesko Suicide" from the same album... - "But I Feel Good" - Groove ArmadaGroove ArmadaGroove Armada is an English electronic music duo from London, England comprising Andy Cato and Tom Findlay. They are perhaps best known for their singles "I See You Baby" and "Superstylin'"...
- "King for a DayKing for a Day (Jamiroquai song)"King For A Day" is the fourth and final single from British Acid Jazz band Jamiroquai's fourth studio album, Synkronized. The song was written by Jay Kay. The song is a "tribute" to bassist Stuart Zender, who left the band shortly before Synkronized was completed...
" - JamiroquaiJamiroquaiJamiroquai is a British jazz funk and acid jazz band formed in 1992. Jamiroquai were initially the most prominent component in the early-1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the James Taylor Quartet, and the Brand New Heavies. Other Acid Jazz artists such as... - "Buena" - Mark SandmanMark SandmanMark Sandman was an American singer, songwriter, musical instrument inventor and multi-instrumentalist.An indie rock icon and longtime fixture on the Boston/Cambridge music scene, Sandman was best known as the lead singer and slide bass player of the band Morphine...
- "My Own PrisonMy Own Prison (song)"My Own Prison" is a song by Creed and the titular lead single from their 1997 debut album, My Own Prison. Vocalist Scott Stapp wrote the lyrics about his struggles with life at a time when he was questioning his religious faith. He realized he had created a prison within his own mind. Stapp sings...
" - CreedCreed (band)Creed is an American rock band formed in 1995 in Tallahassee, Florida. Becoming popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the band has released three consecutive multi-platinum albums, one of which has been certified diamond, and has sold over 28 million records in the United States, with an... - "Rover Take Over" - Lords of AcidLords of AcidLords of Acid is a Belgian-American post-industrial/techno band, led by musician Praga Khan. They debuted with the controversial new beat single "I Sit on Acid" in 1988...
- "Gone!" - The CureThe CureThe Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
- "Broken HomeBroken Home (song)"Broken Home" is the second single from Californian rock band Papa Roach's first album, Infest, and second released single in total. While "Broken Home" was a critical and financial success it did not garner the same attention their previous debut single "Last Resort" did.-Music video:The music...
" - Papa RoachPapa RoachPapa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California. Their first major-label release was the triple-platinum album Infest . The group's success continued with their gold album Lovehatetragedy , their platinum album Getting Away with Murder , The Paramour Sessions , and Metamorphosis... - "Nothing to LoseNothing to LoseNothing to Lose is a 1997 comedy starring Martin Lawrence and Tim Robbins. The film was directed by Steve Oedekerk who also wrote the film and made a cameo appearance as a lip-synching security guard in the film....
" - Robert SmithRobert Smith (musician)Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter of the rock band The Cure, and its only constant member since its founding in 1976...