Being “A Man Apart”- Spoiler!

The fairly predictable “A Man Apart” shows a little grittiness, a tough but sensitive Vin Diesel, and lots of action. The story plays like a textbook script- a cop brings down the leader of a drug cartel, the new leader “El Diablo” sends hit men to take him out, his wife is killed, and our intrepid cop goes on the rampaging revenge path. He breaks a few skulls and rules along the way, and then has a final showdown with the new leader and blows him away. Wait. No he doesn’t!

This is where a Season 1 of “24”ending would feel most natural. Diesel cathartically killing the man who was responsible for the death of his wife would have been the predictable Hollywood ending. Diesel has the means and the “moral right” to exact his revenge. Armed, he finds El Diablo in a Mexican village sipping on a margarita or whatever. You think he’s going to grab his gun, point, and pull the trigger.

Instead, Diesel lets his law enforcing buddies surround El Diablo and arrest him. This is a surprising ending in a world and culture that values revenge. We want to see the bad guy go down, to “get what he deserves.” And yes, criminals deserve justice for sure. But at the hands of a lone avenger, a vigilante? There are laws against such actions. Everyone is lawfully guaranteed a trial. If guilty, any criminal is allowed due process, sentenced, and given punishment in accordance with crimes committed. Usually in Hollywood, the hero dispatches the bad guy, dispatching as well the rights of the due process guaranteed by law.