Product: xXx [VHS] (2002)
Rating: 3.0
Technically fine, crassly commercial action thriller
�XXX� is an ambitious action thriller that works as first-rate mindless entertainment until it ultimately implodes from crass commercialism. For better or worse, its antihero, Xander Cage, may be the James Bond for the 21st Century; indeed, depending on your point of view, the movie is either a homage to or a rip-off of the forty year old spy series. While I personally much prefer the suave, sophisticated Bond, I admit he may not be exactly what today�s young people are looking for.The story is ludicrous, but I don�t think we expect movies in this genre to follow the laws of logic or of common sense. They might be rather bland if they did. Here we have Cage [Vin Diesel], an extreme sports addict, suddenly recruited by [�abducted by� is more like it] the NSA to help it fight a band of Eastern European anarchists which is about to unleash a hideous biological weapon on the world. After passing a series of brutal tests, Cage is dispatched to Prague to infiltrate the group. Once inside, he must race against time to find the weapon and destroy it.Diesel is easily the strongest action hero since Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. He has the right look and persona and has acting skills superior to Schwarzenegger�s but not yet equal to Willis�. Rob Cohen, who directed 2001�s �The Fast and the Furious� [to me, a somewhat superior movie], is a master of the art of giving �A� movie production values to what are essentially �B� movies. The camera work and the special effects are first class and do much to masked the fact that the script is low rent.What hurts �XXX� is its unrelenting commercialism. Some movies become franchises because they are, often unexpectedly, monster hits. Examples include �The Matrix� and �Men in Black�. Others, like this one, are obviously designed and built as a franchise machine. Consequently, they are a bit too calculated and manipulative, which makes them somehow not quite as much fun.