Vin Diesel was on my shitlist. Besides being the bald-headed, one syllabel-uttering, whatever the hell ethnic he is, former club bouncer, ignorant-acting action movie star, he worked in many lousy movies. He gave me road rage with THE FAST & THE FURIOUS, then proceeded to lead in possibly one of the dumbest action pictures that I may have witnessed: XXX. Dear God!
Yet Sidney Lumet felt that he could act seriously without me having to resort to medication. I have to say, even in trying to watch shit like RIDDICK, Lumet must have known something that I didn't, because he's right.
In this fact-based tale of a mobster (Diesel) who defends himself during a Rico trial(which apparently is still a U.S. record holder in length, lasting almost 2 years), if Diesel couldn't motor a worthy performance, this movie was doomed.
Instead, Diesel comes through, with hair implant included, with playing an obvious thug gangster that displays humor, some questioning of the witnesses(of which the film claims is actually much of the real trial's transcripts), and as well the varying level of emotions that his character displays in his face as he continues to refuse to comply with the Feds in "ratting out", even if his "loved ones" of his mob family think his antics will bring the end for their cases.
Diesel's performance overcomes the film's problematic editing(of which I believe came from the movie's massive re-editing during post-production), the fact that the film barely scraps by trying to get the audience to root and cheer as the climax occurs, despite the fact that these known bastard hardcore scumbags are what they are, and unless one is keen observant of law itself, they wouldn't have fully understood why the jury's final verdict occurs.
Still, a nice-decent comeback for the great Sidney Lumet, who won the Lifetime Acheivement Oscar while editing GUILTY. After the absolute failure of the amazingly bad GLORIA in 1999, Lumet retreated to a life of doing television for the A&E channel, and even a HBO TV picture before making his would-be "comeback".
Now if only Diesel would actually bother to act on a more consistent basis, then maybe I would put XXX in my amnesia box.
