|
|
||||||
|
|
A MAN APART by Rachel Deahl Review Film Critic Click for the Official Site Since it was only last summer that Vin Diesel was saving the world in "XXX," it shouldn't come as any surprise to see him bringing down not one but two of the world's most notorious drug cartels in "A Man Apart." Swiftly debunking the message of Steven Soderbergh's smart drug epic "Traffic," this artillery heavy actioner pays no mind to death tolls or the impenetrable system of drug trafficking, championing the notion that death tolls don't matter when it comes to killing a really big drug dealer. I guess it's a sign of the times. Forced to take up arms against a sea of drug dealers and by opposing end them, Diesel stars as a brooding narc sent over the edge when his wife is murdered by the foot soldiers of the latest cartel he bagged. After Diesel and his compadres, all part of an elite unit of the LAPD made up of former thugs, jail the most notorious druglord controlling the California/Mexico border, a band of masked men infiltrate Vin's gorgeous beachfront condo. When his wife takes a lethal bullet in the stomach, the cop sinks into a coma and emerges with a taste for vengeance and a newfound disregard for the law. The vigilante model of a lone gunman compelled to bring down the forces of evil by himself is made idiotic by the bizarre picture the film paints of drug trafficking.
If you thought Vin escaping explosions via snowboards in "XXX" were stupid, it's a treat to see Vin single-handedly bringing down the international drug trade in "A Man Apart." According to the logic of the action superstar's latest vehicle, all it really takes to get to the heads of the food chain is a few key drug busts in L.A. After arresting a gang-banger and an effeminate hairdresser (Timothy Olyphant), Vin and his partner are led directly to the source of it all: Diablo. Taking cues from the now incarcerated kingpin he put away, Memo, Vin prepares to kill the successor. So what does it take to kill a Diablo? A little persistence and a lot of guns, it ends up. After going into a nightclub with guns blazing and killing a boatload of folks in a botched undercover drug buy, the wayward cop is of course forced to turn in his badge. Does it end there? No decent revengeful hubby would have it that way, so Vin grabs his well-meaning partner (Larenz Tate) and brings him down to Mexico break into El Diablo's pad, which of course results in more slit necks and corpses. Ironically "A Man Apart" acknowledges the ridiculous cycle of violence perpetrated by "policing" the drug trade, while championing it. After killing Diablo, who had quickly sprouted in place of the former kingpin, the old boss comes back to the fore. Then again, Vin's crusade was never about the kids doing drugs on U.S. street corners, he was just pissed about his wife. GRADE: D HEAD OF STATE
Given the current political climate, the idea of having Chris Rock in the White House is almost more comforting than amusing. And, if you've ever heard some of Rock's finer stand-up routines or watched his now defunct show on HBO, the SNL alum has a penchant for smart, funny, political commentary. Alas, Rock opted to leave most of his hardest hitting and thought provoking ideas out of the script he penned for his latest political fantasy-farce, "Head of State." Admittedly, the idea of comedians running for office is almost more appealing than the reality of actors making it in. Tinseltown A-listers may have a tradition of using their celebrity to further certain political causes, but the Hollywood-Washington connection has become so much of a reality that more and more stars seem like they have to act like politicians. Watching the Academy Awards it was apparent that the nominees and presenters were all watching their tongues in their own ways, save Michael Moore. But comedians, well they've always had less at stake; hell it's their job to be crude, outspoken and inappropriate.
So while logic would dictate that Lenny Bruce sitting in the Oval Office might do more harm than good, the thought of having a president who cuts through the BS might be worth it. And I still think George Carlin's stand-up bit about turning the country's golf courses into housing for the homeless is a damn good idea, joking aside. Unfortunately Chris Rock doesn't invest "Head of State" with the in your face liberalism that made me want to put George Carlin on the ballot. Instead, Rock infuses his tale of the first Black presidential nominee with lowbrow antics and surprisingly little in the way of political comedy. After coming into the race as a last-minute replacement, selected by the Democrats to lose and set them up for the next election, Rock's lowly politician (he's an alderman in DC) does more to ghetto fabulize his constituents than inform them. >From his defiant choice to wear velvet sweat suits instead of the four-breasted kind and his TV spot that looks more like a Nelly video, Rock goes about stirring things up in the most inconsequential way. The most relevant things Rock's patsy says are about how it "ain't right" that people don't have enough money and that parents should control their kids' intake of violent TV material by smacking them. While Bernie Mac, who plays Rock's brother and eventual running mate, is always a welcome addition to any ensemble, he doesn't have too much to do here. But, as a Chicago bail bondsman turned VP hopeful who opts for a smack in the face over a traditional handshake, Mac draws as many laughs as he can from his limited screen time. Of course if "Head of State" had been more ambitious in its goals, Mac wouldn't have been relegated to such antics and the script wouldn't have sunk to drawing a laugh by having old white people dance the electric slide to "Hot in Here." GRADE: D
To see more info about these movies, and lots more, go to movies.yahoo.com |
|||||
|
|
Enable frames | |||||
|
home | out/about | events | personal | store | classified | real estate | forums | archives | contact |
||||||
