Vin Diesel’s 2003 action thriller A Man Apart has recently surged to the top of the Tubi streaming chart, defying more than two decades of terrible reviews from critics to find a new audience. The words “free streaming” and “Vin Diesel action movie” really do combine to make a strangely attractive prospect to many casual viewers scrolling for something to pass a couple of hours. Best known for iconic roles in franchises like Fast & Furious and Riddick, Diesel’s earlier work in A Man Apart offers a darker and more emotional story for the actor to handle. Unfortunately, critics seem to prefer it when he is just driving like a boy-racer and blowing things up.

Directed by F. Gary Gray, who would later collaborate with Diesel on The Fate of the Furious, A Man Apart tells the story of DEA agent Sean Vetter, a man looking for revenge over...