He played the typical formulaic mobster as seen in multiple Scorcese's movies and The Sopranos. Unimpressive.
my vote history:
http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27424531

I agree 100%. He was great in this.

No doubt. Vin Diesel delivered a flawless acting.
Is a nice movie, i don't get the haters.
I agree: they should be condemned, but the movie isn't about "do justice", the movie is about a not very educated man defends himself.
Good casting.
Good acting.
The always competent Peter Dinklage was very strong in Klandis role.
7.5 of 10

Vin Diesel is a great actor who is awful at making career choices. Action is his biggest weakness, but he keeps going that route because of his physique (and paychecks, no doubt). He's actually a brilliant guy. It's a shame, really. Somebody please cast him in another role against type so people can see what they are missing.

I disagree I found him on a whole annoying and insenceer. He felt fake through out the entire picture, To me this movie proves what I thought all along Vin Diesel can't act! The Pacifire was deasent but I have never seen another movie with him as the lead that I could say I liked and this was no excepption. It felt like forced court room comedy with out the case twists, a lame man's "My Cosin Vinny" in other words.
Evolution
is a
fact
, not a
theory
. - Carl Sagan

yeah he can act and in general i always like most of his movies he's been in.
and i just got done watching this film for the second time and i think im going to change my initial vote of 7/10 to a 8/10.

I have to agree with everyone. Vin Diesel was terrific in this film. No disrespect to him, but it wasn't what I was expecting. Candidly, I took this out of the library for two reasons: 1) I have the hots for Vin Diesel, and 2) the way it's packaged it looked like a fun comedy. I'm gratified to learn Vin has a helluva lot more acting talent than I gave him credit for, and I'm pleased to discover a fine courtroom drama with moments of high comedy but also of thoughtfulness and genuine poignancy. Bravo to all concerned but especially Vin Diesel.
"Tell you what . . . the truth is . . . sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it."
Jack Twist

Yeah he was awesome in this movie. I didn't realise he was in it and couldn't quite place the main character even though he looked familiar.
When the end credits rolled and it said vin diesel I had to rewind and look again! Brilliant character that's very different from his other stuff.
He's almost the opposite of Keanu Reeves who can't act but manages to do almost only good films (though he isn't bad at all in street kings). Vin can act but does some dodgy films.

He can definitely act. He just sometimes chooses to do stupid movies, but he was great in Boiler Room, Saving Private Ryan, and this movie.

BOOM
good answer
I Drink from the Keg of Glory Donna

This message has been deleted.

Agreed. It's called Cuba Gooding Jr. syndrome.

This message has been deleted.