Most action films of the early 2000s promise exhilarating fight scenes, extreme stunts, and practical effects galore. Vin Diesel made headlines in his career when he jumped into that sort of film, with the grossly named project called XXX. This film promised a lot of extreme action and stunts, but did it deliver? Well, let’s just say this is a movie that’s as cold as Vin Diesel’s gravelly voice, and not in a good way.
How to Download xXx
XxX was released on August 9, 2002. You can download the film from a digital store. You can also stream it. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like Vin Diesel, check him out in Fast & Furious.
In-Depth Movie Review
The plot? Well, it’s as forgettable as the rest of the movie. Xander Cage is in a tank top, and he is recruited by Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the role of an NSA agent. His mission? Infiltrate a gang of European anarchists and stop them from, well, doing something bad.
It’s all a little bit hazy, just like trying to remember Vin Diesel’s films before Guardians of the Galaxy. Director Rob Cohen clearly had a love affair with explosions in this film. It’s like he got a discount on dynamite and decided to blow up everything in sight. It’s not exactly subtle, but hey, subtlety was never in Hollywood’s dictionary.
Even if the plot is super forgettable and the direction subpar, I can say one thing for sure. If you’re expecting Oscar-worthy dialogue here, well, you better go somewhere else. The dialogue in “XXX” is cheesier than a pizza you’d get in Naples.
It’s one-liners galore and they simply just don’t work, quite literally, none of the jokes in this film landed, including the best ones there were. It’s like the writers decided to throw in every extreme sports cliche they could find, and the result is a script that’s as over-the-top as the recent Fast and Furious films.
Cast Performance and Roles
Vin Diesel plays, well, Vin Diesel. He’s not exactly known for his range, but if you want someone to mumble tough-guy lines and look good doing it, he’s your man. As for Samuel L. Jackson, he’s the saving grace of the film.
His cool demeanor and iconic presence manage to elevate the movie slightly, but not enough to save it from itself. Asia Argento was fine, she was there, but she didn’t really do much in the film besides being a companion to Vin Diesel. Oh, and Danny Trejo was also… there.
Cinematic Techniques and Soundtrack
This is one of the earliest films to bring in the modern Hollywood trend of the shaky cam fight scene. It is genuinely so shaky in some of the fight sequences, it’s almost impossible to tell what’s even happening on the screen. Of course, that doesn’t usually matter, because the film manages to always give us a good, long shot of Vin Diesel every three seconds.
The stunts in the film are bonkers at times, but they’re simply a bit too over the top. They break barriers out of reality and into the realm of goofiness, basically.
The same can be said for the VFX, now I wouldn’t hate on a VFX crew for no reason, but when you have stunts so great happening on screen, you can just adjust some things and make them pop even better. However, they keep adding things like explosions, which simply look a bit too fake.
Oh, and the soundtrack isn’t great, it’s got some great tracks from the early 2000s which is awesome, but most of the original music is pretty bad.
Final Verdict
It’s just a bit sad that the film tries so hard to capture the adrenaline-fueled world of extreme sports and secret agents, but it doesn’t work. XXX is a lukewarm, cheese-laden action flick with more style than substance. It’s like King Vin Diesel himself – all muscle, no Oscar nominations.
If you’re in the mood for some mindless action and can overlook the shortcomings, it might be worth a watch. I wouldn’t expect anything more than what you see on the surface, though. It’s a Vin Diesel adventure with a lot of explosions.
