Product: xXx (2002)
Rating: 4.0
Entertaining James Bond-style action flick
As previous reviewers have said, this is an action film with lots of explosions, lots of action, and enough plot development to keep everyone interested. It's been compared endlessly to James Bond films; after seeing it, I think this is an apt comparison. The ending is so very Bond that one feels they might almost have paid royalties. The movie very definitely wants to present the main character as the anti-Bond, but he's Bond as he was back when Bond was fun-- stylish, sexy, and having as much fun on his missions as the audience is watching him. On occasion the film is so very stylish that I felt like I was watching a car ad, and the plot is entirely predictable. But who needs plot, really? There was chemistry between the leads, and all of the actors seemed to be having a hell of a fun time, whether it was sprinkling their lines with Russian exclamations or just sneering an awful lot. The perfect-for-recurring minor characters (a baby-faced MIT graduate as the Q-like eccentric inventor, the father-figure boss) and the end of the movie make it seem like there's definite potential for a sequel, and I for one would love to see it.