Product: xXx (2002)
Rating: 5.0
Spy Guy With Attitude
Xander Cage is a top-of-his-game extreme sport enthusiast. He's king of the daredevils, pulling stunts, living on adrenaline, and pumping extreme video footage of things he's doing through an underground streaming video release system that's keeping enough cash flow to provide him the backing he needs to do his biz. Then, when he snatches Senator Hotchkiss's Corvette and drives it over the side of a bridge, Cage draws the attention of National Security Agent Gibbons. Before he has time to celebrate his latest stunt, Cage finds himself shanghaied by the NSA and spirited off to the Colombian jungles where cocaine traffickers nearly kill him. Escaping from the Colombians only gets moves him to the primary spot of candidate for Gibbons' latest plan: a down-and-dirty criminal spy blackmailed into hardwiring himself into a nasty terrorist organization that calls itself Anarchy 99. Before he can say, "Damn, that's gonna leave a mark," Cage is put on a plane and shipped to Prague, the Czech Republic to `front the Russian bad guys who have secretly funded a mad plan to destroy the planet with a biological weapon called Silent Night. Walking into the lion's den, betrayed at every quarter, Cage-codenamed XXX-faces death on a minute-by-minute basis that takes all his mad skills and courage to survive. And in the middle of chaos, with sudden destruction all around him, XXX finds a beautiful woman in need of rescue. Rescue the girl and save the planet-sounds like an itinerary for 007, but this is XXX, the newest, hippest, and most extreme secret agent of them all on his fledgling mission and flat-out off the hook!Vin Diesel is a powerhouse actor in the making. He's a guy in the biz for the long haul, giving up solid work in everything he commits to. From bit parts in SAVING RYAN and BOILER ROOM, to doing the voice work for the Giant in THE IRON GIANT, to leading roles in PITCH BLACK and THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, Vin Diesel has attracted the attention of international audiences. Rob Cohen, director of XXX, has directed and produced dozens of films: THE SKULLS, THE HARD WAY, BIRD ON A WIRE, and television shows in "The Guardian" series. He and Diesel worked together on THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, providing audiences a high-octane blast of adventure and excitement.XXX is a sheer blast of excitement. Diesel offers up the kind of hero that is sure to attract the young crowd out there waiting for a James Bond to rise from their generation. Backed by literally dozens of stunt guys and extreme sports heroes, Xander Cage comes across as suave and totally filled with mad skills that British agents licensed to kill couldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. The music score blasts the audiences in the seats, buffeting them with concussive sound waves from industrial metal and other music designed to be amped up to blow out the speakers. And the rolling thunder of the explosions has to be experienced to be believed. Set in Prague, the film looks absolutely awesome, a step back into the James Bond Cold War-era by way of present day music and extreme sports skills. While the stunts are purely amazing in their own right, backed by the music score and the exotic location, XXX delivers a sight and sound slugfest that is going to electrify audiences looking for something new in their spy stories. Diesel's acting is dead on, the women are painfully beautiful and seethe sexuality, and the story pacing is a headlong rush down a spiral staircase banister on one skate. The tech is cool and state-of-the-art, and the music scenes where the bands are playing will rock the house. During the final scenes of the movie, when XXX has to take to the air in a parachute like a hang glider, the parachute spills out into the red, white, and blue of the United States flag, an awe-inspiring sight above the river and against the backdrop of Prague. XXX is a hero, and he has the colors to prove it.Fans of action films, James Bond films, and extreme sports will get an absolute blast out of Diesel's performance in XXX. Diesel fans are already flocking to the theaters this weekend to check out the film, and they're going to discover that the big guy delivered like a champ. The only hard part now is going to be waiting for the release of the DVD!