BUY THE DVD:
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SYNOPSIS:
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xander cage is an extreme sports athelete recruited by the government on a special mission.
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MOVIE FACT:
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vin diesl's stuntman, harry o'connor died when he hit a pillar of the palacky bridge in prague, para-sailing during one of the actions scenes.
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MOVIE FOTOS:
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RATING:
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three out of four possible stars
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Though the words said by the characters in xXx seem juvenile at times, the action sequences in this film are really quite impressive. It becomes something of a trademark for the filmmakers of xXx to allow only a snippet of dialogue, around three lines or so, to be said, before something is blown up, smashed, shot, or detonated. This film is a hair over two hours, but with its lightening fast pace, this film passes in an instant. And brains or no, it's a fun ride.
Though the supporting cast is certainly impressive, Vin Diesel cements his status as an action hero. Vin's character presents an entertaining balance between self-deprecating humor and impossible fight sequences. However improbable the action in this film, somehow, it seems possible that a man could actually snowboard down a mountain, detonate an avalanche, and outrun 6000 tones of moving snow. Perhaps it stretches the imagination to believe that this could actually happen, but the movie doesn't as its audience to take it that seriously.
Because right after the dust settles, Vin's character, "Zander," pokes his head out of the snow and says something like, "there's nothing like fresh powder." This film isn't a farce in that it makes fun of the action hero genre, but it does step back every once in a while to acknowledge that this is just a fun movie, not a documentary on actual events. But the action in this movie certainly high intensity. When there is an explosion, it's huge. When bullets are flying, there are a lot of them flying. Everything to do with action in this film is done as big as is possible.
But the action never becomes monotonous. In fact, that is one of this picture's biggest successes. These scenes don't go on for hours and hours. The character hits his or her objective and it's on to the next adventure. Not only are the explosions huge, but the movie also packs in quite a lot of them. The speed of this film was so fast, that it doesn't allow its unsuspecting audience to realize that it's not always the smartest film. But this film doesn't need to be smart. It's got Vin Diesel in it, and a quite humorous Samuel L. Jackson.
Jackson sports an almost maniacal attitude as a higher up in the American NSA. He's just one of a few quite unique characters that populate this film. The resident evil bad dude, a Russian still loyal to the KGB, played by New Zealander, Marton Csokas, has quite a convincing accent for this film and is crazily evil without being a parody of a bad guy. And it shows how good at making an action thriller director Rob Cohen is in that none of the slightly cliché dialogue and situations seem too funny (when they're not supposed to, of course).
There are not too many speaking parts in this film, but like the actors mentioned above, Asia Argento was cast well in one of those precious few roles. More and more, female actors are being given pro-active roles in action movies and as Vin Diesel's love interest, Asia does everything but sit down in this film. She's a smart character and knows how to handle a gun. Female actresses can hope that this trend in creating smart women in films will continue in this genre.
This film is an action movie in the truest sense of the word in that it's filled with completely unbelievable situations, but can get the audience caught up in the excitement of every scene. It doesn't apologize for its lack of depth, and it doesn't need to. This film is nearly a complete "180" from any type of thinking picture. It's the perfect type of film to usher in the last unofficial month of summer. August is usually the breeding ground for Hollywood's rejects, but this August is so far shaping up to be much better than average. Who knows, it's possible that like Will Smith and his yearly fourth of July blockbuster, Vin Diesel may become the King of August blockbusters.
Review by Kelsey Wyatt.
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