It’s shameful of Vin Diesel not to give his fans what they want– a jam-packed action thriller movie where he doesn’t have to act. But noooo, he has to try something new, or in this case, something pre-action movie star. Diesel’s latest film, “A Man Apart,” was filmed pre-“Fast and theFurious” and “XXX,” but the studio decided to shelve it and “cash in” after Diesel’s success. In “Man,” he actually gives true acting a try.

Diesel plays a Drug Enforcement Administrator agent, Sean Vetter, fighting the drug cartel in Mexico, who along with his partner Demetrius Hicks (Larenz Tate) and a team of undercover narcotics cops has brought down a vicious Mexican drug kingpin (Geno Silva). The cartels, lacking leadership, escalate the rise of a new mafioso called “Diablo,” who begins a new war to gain control of the U.S.-Mexico drug smuggling business. For a while it seems like “Man” is heading into a compelling story like “Traffic,” but we’re quickly torn away when a hit is put on Vetter’s wife.

The resulting tragedy at Vetter’s home turns him nasty and bitter. Even if the trailer hadn’t revealed the fact the Vetter’s wife gets killed, the plot make it all too obvious by having the couple seem madly, deeply and ridiculously happy. It’s like watching one of those really bad scary movies where you’re yelling at the soon-to-be-dead teenager, “He’s behind you!”

You know it’s coming. Hell bent on getting revenge, he and his partner go on a rampage to find Diablo.

Fortunately Diesel is given a much broader range to do something with his character. Instead of the one-dimensional fighting machine typical in his previous films, here Diesel’s character is more human.

We can actually sympathize with Diesel because the rage he feels over the death of his wife is more than just superficial. He actually has a reasonable explanation for his actions. But then again, you don’t know where to stand. Is he a good cop or a bad cop?

After coming face-to-face with his wife’s killer, he essentially beats him to death. His faithful partner, Hicks, ensures that the killing is legal by shooting the man twice in the chest with another drug dealer’s gun. The behavior of the characters is intriguing because you don’t know whether to think if they are any worse than the drug dealers they, themselves, are trying to put in jail.

Director F. Gary Gray (“The Negotiator” and “Set It Off”) tries to make what he can of the flashy gun battle scenes but it’s not enough to make it an action thriller with the brooding Diesel.

The film does have its bright moments, especially when Gray brings out a drug- sniffing chihuahua dog. This very short moment made the rest watchable. As one viewer said, “That was the best part of the film.”

And, unfortunately, it was.

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