Review - xXx (2002-2017)

         Hey guys, Chuck here. And, as much as I am a fan of Vin Diesel, it seems the only franchises he's been part of that I've discussed have been limited to The Fast and the Furious and Guardians of the Galaxy. Today, I'm going to remedy that by talking about another franchise that Vin Diesel has been part of: xXx. Kicking off in 2002, with the most recent entry hitting theaters in 2017, xXx was an interesting concept that combined two things that were popular with youth culture in the early 2000's: spy films and extreme sports. Now, while Vin Diesel was only the lead star for two of the three xXx movies, all three would feature Samuel L. Jackson as NSA agent Augustus Gibbons. 

         The first xXx, released in 2002, opens with an NSA field agent in Prague, who finds himself killed by a rogue syndicate called Anarchy 99, but he is able to send a transmission to NSA headquarters before his death. At headquarters, NSA brass, along with Gibbons, look over the dead agent's transmission, which details a deadly chemical weapon called Silent Night, which was hijacked by Anarchy 99. Gibbons then suggests, in lieu of another field agent, a more unique approach in infiltrating Anarchy 99: test a select handful of American civilians with criminal records to see if they have the right skills for the operation. 

        It's here where we meet Xander Cage, an extreme sports enthusiast and underground celebrity. Xander's introduction in this movie sees him steal a red Corvette, strapping some cameras inside of crash proof cylinders onto it, and recording a message of what's about to happen. The car he stole belonged to California Senator Dick Hotchkiss, who is infamous for wanting to ban rap music and pull video games from store shelves nationwide. Jeez, Dick sounds like a bit of a dick. Anyway, as a means of punishing Dick, Xander drives the Corvette up a ramp, off the side of a bridge, and pulls his parachute, letting the car crash and explode in the ravine below. Xander's crew, including a really awesome cameo by Tony Hawk, picks up the cameras, along with Xander, and they flee the scene. 

       That night, Xander is having a party at his loft, where a woman named Jordan King offers to get him into his own video game. Unfortunately, the party is busted up by masked NSA agents, who shoot Xander with a tranquilizer dart. Xander wakes up the next day in a diner, where he notices a few things, and these things put together that nothing about the diner is legit, and he subdues two men sticking up the place. Now, what does Xander notice? First, a stockbroker dressed in a suit and reading the Financial Times, in spite of the fact that it's a Sunday, and the market is closed. Also, the stick-up man is packing a police issue Beretta. But, where Xander figured out that everything was fake was with the waitress, who was in high heels. Xander points out that his aunt was a career waitress, and a career waitress wouldn't come to work in high heels, lest she have massive blisters on her feet before lunch. Gibbons congratulates Xander for passing his test, and has him shot with another tranquilizer dart. 

        Xander wakes up on a cargo plane, this time with a few others who were being tested by Gibbons. The team is dropped in Colombia, only to be captured by a local drug lord. Said drug lord, El Jefe, asks Xander and the others about who they're working for, but the hideout is attacked. Now, in spite of the attack, and every opportunity to escape, Xander shows outstanding selflessness and bravery to protect his comrade TJ, despite barely knowing the guy, but they are unfortunately recaptured. The next morning, Gibbons arrives and offers Xander a job: infiltrate Anarchy 99, get a list of cars from them, and learn what he can in regards to Silent Night. Now, initially, Xander is uninterested, but after a soliloquy about lions in the zoo, and a rundown of the crimes the FBI will lock Xander in Leavenworth over, is convinced by Gibbons into accepting the mission. And it's here where Gibbons remarks about the three X's tattooed on the back of Xander's neck, and remarks "Maybe you oughta call yourself xXx." 

       In Prague, Xander meets with a Czech government agent named Milan Sova, along with two of his associates whom are both named Ivan. At one of the clubs owned by Anarchy 99 leader Yorgi, Xander introduces himself to Yorgi and his crew, including a brother named Kolya and Yorgi's girlfriend Yelena. Xander and Yorgi then set up a deal for a list of cars, including a '67 GTO, in exchange for a wire transfer of millions of dollars, with Yelena giving him Yorgi's account number. The next morning, however, Gibbons berates Xander for altering the list of cars, with Xander's reply being "The cars on that list sucked. They'd have seen right through it." However, Xander did get a lot of information for Gibbons, which was a positive. However, Gibbons wants Xander to get more information from Anarchy 99, and sends a care package to help Xander out. 

        The care package comes in the form of a tech agent named Toby Lee Shavers, who provides Xander with some equipment, including a gun and multiple forms of ammunition, including "blood splatter" darts (tranquilizer darts with red paint to give the appearance of a kill shot without the lethality of an actual bullet). Xander gets the cars, Anarchy 99 gets the money, and Sova attempts to sneak into the exchange. Xander takes down Sova with one of the "blood splatter" darts, and he and Anarchy 99 head to another one of Yorgi's clubs. And, it's here where we learn of the meaning of the name Anarchy 99, as it was a means of rebelling against the politics of Russia that began in 1999. And, Yorgi makes a reference to the Vandals song "Anarchy Burger," which is actually a really dope song. I highly recommend it.

         Anyway, at Yorgi's mansion, Xander stays the night, and the next day gets a bit closer to Yelena, revealing himself as working for the NSA. Unfortunately, Xander's been compromised, and Kirill, Yorgi's sniper with an addiction to cigarettes, tries to kill him and Yelena. Xander is picked up and taken to Gibbons, who is sending him back home. However, Xander heads back to Yorgi's mansion, where Yorgi shows Yelena the power of Silent Night: a deadly chemical weapon that easily is disippated in water. Xander escapes, and uses explosive patches to blow up Anarchy 99's motorcycles, killing Kolya. At the place Xander has been stationed at, Sova is waiting with a gun, having switched sides to working with Yorgi. However, Sova is killed by Yelena, who is with the Ivans, and reveals herself to be with Russian Federal Security Service, having been undercover in Anarchy 99, but abandoned by her superiors. 

         After a video call with Gibbons, Xander makes his next move to stop Yorgi from using a vessel called Ahab to unleash Silent Night against cities like Prague. Yorgi and his men, Viktor and Kirill, are all killed, and Ahab is launched. Using the GTO, equipped with all kinds of tech by Shavers, Xander and Yelena go after it, and Xander paragliders over to Ahab and pulls the control module, causing Ahab to dive and explode safely underwater. Xander is initially thought to have died in the explosion, but survived, and takes a tropical getaway in Bora Bora with Yelena. 

       So, xXx was a fun way to combine two very popular things at the time: spy movies and extreme sports. I mean, we see Vin Diesel as Xander Cage doing things like skateboarding, snowboarding, motorbike riding, and let's not forget him driving a Corvette off a bridge. That's pretty awesome. And, to give credence to Xander being a notable figure in extreme sports, this movie features appearances by Tony Hawk Mike Vallely, Carey Hart, and Mat Hoffman, which was pretty awesome. 

       The performances aside from that of Vin Diesel, who was awesome by the way, were also a lot of fun, with the likes of Samuel L Jackson as Gibbons, Asia Argento as Yelena, Marton Csokas as Yorgi, Danny Trejo as El Jefe, Michael Roof as Shavers, and so forth all being a ton of fun. And, yes, I did enjoy seeing Rammstein perform their hit song "Feuer Frei" in this movie. 

        The action was awesome, and the plot was a ton of fun to watch. Honestly, director Rob Cohen, who had worked with Vin Diesel the year prior on The Fast and the Furious, made a really fun action spy movie that catered to teens who grew up loving the world of extreme sports. Is the movie perfect? No, but it is insanely kickass. So, I'm giving xXx a rating of 4.85/5. Now, I should mention that the director's cut DVD, released in 2005, featured a short film called "Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage," where we see Xander, who is hanging around with Jordan King, be led into a trap, where he ends up blown to smithereens by a rogue Lt. Col. named Alabama Cobb, who remarks that Xander "Never had much between the ears." Now, many fans, myself included, hate this short, as it was a cop out way to explain why Xander doesn't return for the second movie. 

        Speaking of which, here is the second film in the xXx franchise. xXx: State of the Union, directed this time by Die Another Day director Lee Tamahori, and only having Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Roof returning from the first movie as Gibbons and Shavers. New cast members this time include Ice Cube, Scott Speedman, Willem Dafoe, Sunny Mabrey, Xzibit, John G. Connelly, and Nona Gaye. 

        So, after Xander successfully took down Anarchy 99, Gibbons was able to expand the xXx program, which is an NSA program for special agents with unique skills sets. Unfortunately, around the time Xander is killed by Cobb, the base is attacked, and Gibbon and Shavers are the only two to escape, and they realize they need to recruit a new xXx...one with more attitude than Xander. 

        It's here where we meet former Navy SEAL Darius Stone, who is currently incarcerated at Leavenworth for disobeying orders and breaking the jaw of a former 4-star General named George Deckert. Gibbons visits Darius in prison, and sows the seeds for Darius to break out, and work with Gibbons as the new xXx. 

       Now, I want to take a minute to discuss my opinions on Darius Stone. Now, while I will always personally prefer Xander Cage as xXx, I will say that Darius is definitely a badass in this movie. And Ice Cube definitely sells himself as an action hero, and has a very different kind of attitude when compared to Xander, and is a really fun addition to this franchise. However, it's the fact that he's more interested in cars than extreme sports, and is more of a military mind than an extreme sports enthusiast that makes him a bit too different for my taste, but I still enjoy the character nonetheless. 

       Okay, so Darius, along with Gibbons and Shavers, head to Washington DC to get information on what's going on, and it turns out that Deckert, along with his right hand man Cobb, is making a play for the Presidency. His plan? Assassinate the President and the entire line of succession at the State of the Union, have himself installed as President, and prevent the current President's new bill from going through to Congress. Unfortunately, Gibbons winds up dead, and it's all down to Darius and Shavers. Meanwhile, an NSA agent named Kyle Steele is investigating the goings on involving Gibbons, Darius, and the rest of their unit. Yeah, it turns out that, years before, Deckert order a building filled with civilians to be set ablaze, but Darius and a handful of others refused, and Darius broke Deckert's jaw, securing his twenty year sentence. 

         Darius, having recovered a dara drive from the xXx base, scans a microfilm disguised as a barcode, identifying a name: Charlie. Charlie, it turns out, is Gibbons' contact Charlie Mayweather, who Darius convinces to help get information on Deckert at a fancy party. And, it's here where we see Deckert speaking of his plan with General Pettibone. Darius gets away, and Charlie drives him to a safe house. Only, it turns out that she's working with Deckert, and the house is that of General Pettibone, who is killed, with Darius being framed for the murder. 

       Darius eventually meets back up with Shavers, and a former flame named Lola, and Shavers finds out that Deckert is calling his forces in. Darius infiltrates one of the ships, and finds that Gibbons, along with the presumed dead members of Darius' old unit, are still alive and being held captive by Deckert. Darius gets away, taking down a few of Deckert's men in the process, and goes to warn Steele of Deckert's plan to go after the President during the State of the Union. After learning that Deckert installed his men as the President's protection detail during the State of the Union, Steele joins Darius and agrees to work with him to stop Deckert from killing the President. 

       Gathering resources, weapons, and aide from Darius' old crew, including Zeke, Darius gets into the Capitol Building, saves the President, rescues Gibbons and his old unit, and takes down Charlie, Cobb, and Deckert. However, the story is covered up, Deckert is given a hero's funeral, Steele is given the Medal of Honor along with an unknown soldier (Darius), Darius is formally released from prison, and Lola gives him the keys to a Mustang. Back at headquarters, Gibbons, Steele, and Shavers discuss the next recruit for the xXx program. 

       Now, while it would be easy to say that xXx: State of the Union sucks ass, I kinda want to get in to some of the good things about the movie, and why those things don't work for a xXx movie. First, a plot that involves preventing an assassination attempt on the President and the entire line of succession is an interesting premise. The action in this movie is awesome. And many of the performances, including the aforementioned Ice Cube as Darius Stone, were pretty awesome. 

        However, as cool as all of it was, and it would definitely work in a different type of action movie, it just doesn't gel into being a good xXx movie. Recall that the original xXx was a combination of spy movies with extreme sports. Now, while I have nothing against a former Navy SEAL being made xXx, the absence of the extreme sports just takes away from the franchise's core identity. 

        Overall, while still an entertaining movie,. it's not a very good xXx movie. So, I'm giving xXx: State of the Union a rating of 3.5/5. Now, I should mention that this movie would be the last one to feature Michael Roof as Shavers, as the actor tragically passed away in 2009, and would be the final film of the series to be released by Sony, as Revolution Studios would part ways from the studio after the release of 2007's The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep.

       However, Revolution Studios would return in 2017, this time in partnership with Paramount Pictures, for the long awaited third chapter of the xXx franchise. xXx: Return of Xander Cage, directed by D.J. Caruso, would see the return of Vin Diesel as Xander Cage, who is joined by Donnie Yen, Toni Collette, Nina Dobrev, Ruby Rose, Rory McCann, Tony Jaa, Deepika Padukone, and Samuel L. Jackson, with appearances by Neymar Jr. and Ice Cube. 

        The movie opens with Gibbons meeting with a candidate to be the next xXx, and does so by telling a soliloquy regarding how during a very hot summer, too hot for people to fill their pools because of a drought, a skateboarder used an empty pool to get some extra airtime on his skateboard. The candidate that Gibbons is talking to is Brazilian soccer superstar Neymar Jr., who is initially uninterested, but quickly shows his heroism by using his soccer skills to take down a robber. Unfortunately, a satellite that was hacked and taken out of orbit and driven into Earth's atmosphere crashes near the Chinese restaurant that Gibbons and Neymar are in, seemingly killing them both. 

         We then cut to a team of skilled mercenaries stealing a very dangerous hacking device called Pandora's Box from a CIA office in New York. CIA agent Marke, who recognizes the team's leader, Xiang, sets out to recruit the one man who can help in this situation: Xander Cage, the original xXx. Yeah, remember how in that stupid "Death of Xander Cage" short how Alabama Cobb led Xander to his apparent death? Well, it turns out that it wasn't really Xander, and the real Xander has been living in exile in the Dominican Republic. Marke enlists Xander to help, and Xander heads to London. 

         It's here where Xander meets an old friend named Ainsley, who returns his coat, and easily tracks Xiang and his crew to the Philippines. Xander then meets the new tech support agent Becky Clearidge, and rejects the team that Marke assembles for him. Instead, Xander enlists some friends to be his team: sharpshooter Adele Wolff, driver Tennyson Torch, and disc jockey Nicks Zhou. In the Philippines, Xander meets Xiang and his team, consisting of Serena, Hawk, and Talon. Now, while Serena wants to destroy Pandora's Box, Xiang wants to use it. And it's quickly revealed that the foursome of Xiang, Serena, Hawk, and Talon are all agents of xXx, sent after Pandora's Box by Gibbons himself. Also, Xander tells Serena that if they get in a pinch, just dial 9. 

        We also learn that the Pandora's Box that Xiang stole was a prototype, and the real one was in the hands of a treasonous CIA director named Anderson, which is discovered when Serena destroys the prototype, and another satellite crashes down in the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. Xander and Xiang's teams unite against this common threat, as it's what Gibbons would want, and Xander maneuvers Anderson into position for Wolff to take a shot and kill him. However, Marke arrives and takes both Pandora's Box and Xiang, and Xander goes after them. Markez who reveals that the xXx program is no more, then dispatches assassins to take out the team awaiting extraction in an NSA warehouse, only for them to get help from Darius Stone, who shows up with a grenade launcher and takes out the assassins. 

       Xander and Xiang, teaming up, take down Market and her men on the plane, while Xander aims the plane at a falling satellite that Becky is unable to hack, thus destroying both the satellite and the plane. Xander is able to land safely thanks to a pallet of cargo, and he reunites with the joint team. Darius pulls up in the '67 GTO, saying Gibbons asked him to keep an eye on it. Xander and Darius enjoy a moment, hinting that the two may work together in the future. 

       At Gibbons' funeral, the two teams, Darius, and Xander witness the service, while Xander and Gibbons have a chat, with Gibbons hinting that he is reopening the xXx program by himself, with Neymar Jr. as it's first new agent. Gibbons parts from Xander with a simple instruction: "kick some ass, get the girl, and try to look dope while you're doing it," something that Xander says he can definitely do. 

       Now, it's clear to me that director D.J. Caruso is a fan of xXx, and he definitely brings the best elements of the first two movies together. While many fans, myself included, weren't particularly fond of State of the Union, I do appreciate that Caruso and writer F. Scott Frazier decided to still acknowledge it happened, instead of pretending it doesn't exist. 

       Vin Diesel easily steps back into the shoes of Xander Cage, and once again showcases all of the extreme sports skills fans know and love him forz with scenes that include skiing down a mountain in the Dominican Republic, riding a motorbike through the jungle of the Philippines and on top of the water, and so much more awesomeness. 

      Donnie Yen, who is easily one of the best martial arts stars in China today, was absolutely awesome as Xiang. And, I thoroughly enjoyed both Michael Bisping and Tony Jaa as Hawk and Talon, as well as Deepika Padukone as Serena. But, easily two of my favorites were Ruby Rose as Wolff and Nina Dobrev as Becky. Rory McCann, who is known for his portrayal of The Hound on Game of Thrones, was hilarious as Tennyson Torch, and Toni Collette was a very unique villain as Marke. 

       Now, unlike the Presidential assassination plot of State of the Union, the plot of Return of Xander Cage centering on a hacking device capable of dropping satellites down from space, causing them to crash with the force of a nuclear missile, is definitely better fitting of a xXx movie. I really like that Caruso and Frazier made a plot genuinely befitting for a story focused on Xander Cage. And, I will say that my favorite moment of the movie was when we see Xander Cage and Darius Stone side by side. Watching Vin Diesel stand alongside Ice Cube, a moment twelve years in the making mind you, was a moment that I absolutely loved seeing in this movie. All in all, xXx: Return of Xander Cage was a fun entry in the franchise, and I give it a rating of 4.5/5. 

       Okay, so overall, the xXx franchise is a genuine adrenaline-fueled action spy franchise that I thoroughly have a ton of fun with. With the series being led by the likes of Vin Diesel and Ice Cube, with Samuel L. Jackson as the one main actor that appears across the series, it's hard not to find some enjoyment in it. Is it for everyone? No. But, it it awesome as hell? Yeah. I definitely recommend checking this series out. 

       Well, this is Chuck signing off, and...you know what? I have an idea. How about tomorrow, I take a look at the third Vin Diesel franchise? Yeah I'm gonna do that. Tomorrow, I'm going to take a look at The Chronicles of Riddick.