Product: xXx [VHS] (2002)
Rating: 4.0
What a RUSH!
Gone are the days of tuxedos, English accents, the Austin Healy and "shaken" martinis. That was 40 years ago. Time for an overhaul. Bring on the tattoos, a sarcastic, up-yours attitude, and a Pontiac GTO. Bring on xXx.Xander Cage (Vin Diesel), a cocky, renegade extreme sports fanatic who uses his talents to make "extremely live" political statements, is being unwillingly recruited by the National Security Agency as a secret agent. Samuel L. Jackson, plays NSA Agent Gibbons, who abducts Xander and puts him to the "extreme" test to see if he's worthy of enlistment. "Vin Diesel had better enjoy his role as xXx - he may be playing it for a while. Just a nice guy from Manhattan, Vin is nothing like the roles he plays. He's a determined, hard-working actor who's actually humble and kinda sweet, if you can believe it. He may not have it all, but he's definitely got something, and it's apparently enough. Call it charisma, sex appeal, whatever. His on-screen presence is amazing. Whether he chooses his roles or they choose him, his growth and recent success has been remarkable. Teaming up with Director Rob Cohen hasn't hurt his career either. The two worked together in 2001 on "The Fast and the Furious," a fast-paced hot-rod film that earned {$$$}."xXx" is certainly a 007 flick modernized with an MTV/extreme sports angle. The start of the film pokes fun at the classic 007 in a tuxedo. There's classic villains with typical schemes to somehow rule the world ("Dr. No"), some geek who does nothing all day but invent weird, but handy spy gadgets ("Q"), and all the unbelievable stunts and action sequences that we've loved since 1962 when Agent 007 was born.Director Rob Cohen claims, "We're reinventing the spy movie." Today's stunts involve snowboards, parachutes, motorcycles, speedboats, motor cross, a silver serving tray? as Xander Cage puts it, "anything fast enough to do something stupid in."Samuel L. Jackson's role is small but good, lending just the support we need. New Zealand actor Marton Csokas and Italian actress Asia Argento adequately play the Russian villains.Overall, the acting wasn't the greatest and neither was the plot. Was it incredibly entertaining? Oh yeah! So, I guess that's the whole point.