Product: xXx (2002)
Rating: 4.0
A BOND FOR THE YOUNGER SET
XXX is basically a James Bond kind of movie, with a younger, more virile Vin Diesel being the American version. While not the world's best actor, Vin has the smoldering he-man presence needed and he's a lot easier to understand than Arnold. The plot is rehased Bond material, and director Rob Cohen stages some pretty intense action scenes. Suffice to say, the snowboarding sequence, in spite of its technical "superiority" comes nowhere near the ski chase in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."The film is peopled with stereotypes: Samuel L. Jackson popping up as the man who engages Diesel--Jackson is as stiff as ever; Asia Argento does moderately well in the Russian agent role, but as in any of these movies, it's not the acting chops but the beauty ratio; Martin Csokas as the bad guy is typically villainous, but nothing special; and Michael Roof as the blowhard gizmo wizard is nothing more than a clone of M from the Bond movies.But, hey, this is not the kind of movie you want a lot of acting or script excellence; it's an action movie and on that level, XXX is xxxcellent.