Product: xXx (2002)
Rating: 3.0
enjoyably inane spy thriller
Pity poor Prague. First it gets hammered by a flood of historic proportions this summer - and now this: potential annihilation by a submarine carrying biological weapons It may make all those people who live there start to wonder if, perhaps, they did something to make the Man Upstairs turn against them."XXX" is a spy film for the new millennium. Sure, it utilizes all the conventions of the genre that have been in place since James Bond made his cinematic debut back in "Dr. No" forty long years ago: international intrigue, fantastic technological gadgetry, a generous helping of sardonic humor, beautiful women (who are, more often than not, really double agents), and, of course, a hero in whose capable hands rests the fate of the entire free (and even not so free) world. The difference here is that this protagonist is no cocktail-sipping sophisticate like Bond, but rather a lower class, rough-and-tumble, antisocial troublemaker who would rather throw expensive cars off bridges than risk his life for God and country. That very attitude of devil-may-care devilry makes him the prime candidate for the task of undercover infiltration that the CIA needs done at the moment - or so our hero, known as XXX, is told by Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) who recruits the prison-and-hell-bound ruffian to serve as a mole in a nefarious, underground organization centered in the Czech Republic.Actually, for all its obeisance to the spy-movie formula, "XXX" turns out to be quite a fun, rollicking good action film, provided one goes along with the nonsense and doesn't expect too much from it. It is certainly miles above this summer's earlier spy flick, "Bad Company," which utilized much of the same plotting and even featured Prague as the backdrop for some of its action as well. In this case, however, the filmmakers have a star worthy of his buildup. Vin Diesel may not always be able to deliver his lines in a way that is 100% convincing (he is particularly inept in the scene where Gibbons is convincing him that he needs to get with the program rather than risk time in prison), but he does emanate a certain charismatic charm, particularly when called upon to deliver some of those sardonic one-liners that are standard issue for a modern action hero figure."XXX" has a clever opening stretch in which our hero is continually put to sleep with a dart gun and finds himself waking up in strange surroundings - courtesy of his boss who wants to test the man's mettle before sending him out into the world he is being called upon to save. The last half hour, though utterly preposterous by any measure, manages to get the adrenaline going thanks to first-rate photography and split-second editing. Dean Semler, the film's cinematographer, deserves special praise for his work on this film. The movie looks, quite frankly, gorgeous. Luckily, he was handed for his subject one of the most photogenic cities in the world and, I am happy to say, he does it full justice with his camera.Fast-paced, moderately witty and always lovely to look at, "XXX" promises to be but the first entry in a long-lived and very lucrative new film franchise.