Seriously... is Vin Diesel any good as an actor?

Remember, this is the guy who spent his downtime on the Riddick set playing Dungeons & Dragons with Dame Judy Dench. The man is a card-carrying geek.

Vin Diesel plays…? Wait, Dame Judi plays D&D? That’s so nerdily cool.

No way! Where did you hear that?

I haven’t played D&D in decades, but that is a game I’d want to get in on.

Here - read this

As a sequel it sucks, but if you pretend it has nothing to do with Pitch Black it’s an enjoyable movie.

Not only that, but he begged, Begged, BEGGED Judi Dench to be in Chronicles of Riddick because he loves her so much.

There’s quite possibly not a bigger geek in the world than Vin Diesel.

Vin Diesel does not suck at all as an actor. As action movie actors go, he’s remarkably good. He can play more than one kind of character, as Find Me Guilty showed. As the stock tough-guy character that he usually plays, I think he’s definitely better than, say, Stallone.

Ditto. I like him much better when he’s not in an action film.

You’ve seen the Vin Diesel breakdance instructional video*, right?

*I’m not making this up. I can’t link to video sites at work though so you’ll have to Google it.

For your viewing pleasure:

Vin Diesel Breakdance Video

My girl-crush on Judi is now complete.

Sidney Lumet’s* Find Me Guilty* was one of my favorite films for its year. It lives on our “Recommended” shelf and so far has (anecdotally) a 100% positive response from customers who’ve commented on it.

Much of this thread seems to be, “I’ve never watched Vin Diesel in anything, but I assume he’s a bad actor.” :rolleyes:

I’ve seen The Fast and the Furious, Pitch Black, & Find Me Guilty. I think he’s actually a quite good actor.

Are…we reading the same thread? Nobody’s claimed that. The closest I see is ‘eh, he’s okay. His stuff’s enjoyably stupid.’

Indubitably. He wrote the foreword to the big D&D anniversary book. His production company is named after his character.

He’s the most heavily muscled geek I know of (besides MAYBE this one friend of mine).

That, and any dangerous situation he ends up in tends to be resolved through the old “because I AM that bad ass!”.

I liked Pitch Black plenty, though.

-Joe

Well Stephen Speilberg did pick him to be in Saving Private Ryan. While he didn’t have that big of a role, I’m sure Speilberg isn’t in the habit of picking acting slouches for his movies.

another vote for ‘find me guilty.’ he is very watchable in it.

and **hey ** - i *liked * ‘the pacifier.’ :smiley:

Depending on who you listen to, he pestered, Pestered, PESTERED Judi Dench until she finally gave in and starred in Chronicles. I prefer the first version of the story, cos hey; I’ve Got Nothing Against Vin Diesel

A third vote for The Pacifier.