xXx
release year: 2002
genre: action
viewing setting: home DVD, 1/11/03
synopsis: When "normal" secret agents fail to complete a mission, another attempt is made using a young, reckless thrillseeker.
impressions: This is basically a James Bond movie with a hero not of the Bond mold: tattooed, brash, and competent in "extreme sports." As a basic action movie, it worked; the fact that I'm older that its target audience irked me for no tangible reason. Good points: nice outdoor action scenes, lots of gunplay, a few hot women. Bad points: needless slo-mo repetition of stunts, speed-metal soundtrack, too-easily-trusting bad guys.
principals:
Xander Cage: tattooed rebel, likes to disrespect authority
Agent Gibbons: older secret agent with half his face burned, likes to make offers that can't be refused
Yorgi: European anarchist, wants to poison the entire world
Yelena: Yorgi's woman, has secrets of her own
Virg: young inventor, likes to imitate Bond's "Q"
Senator Hotchkiss: he's anti-videogames, skateboards, and fun in general
El Jefe: Danny Trejo! A Columbian drug lord, he's unwittingly used early in the "let's try a new agent" weedout process
X-treme stunts: free-falling, high-speed motorcycle-riding up ramps and between barbed-wire, riding a dinner tray down a long handrail, driving really fast cars really fast, rock climbing, parachuting followed by snowboarding, parasailing
things to watch for: Around 1:30, the snowboarding chase scene is pretty thrilling.
acting: Vin Diesel may be able to act, but he's not pushing those limits here; while not wooden, he's not got a lot of complicated material. Samuel Jackson did a pretty good job as the ruthless good guy who recruits Xander. Asia Argento made a highly competent female lead, and was impressive.
final word: Entertaining, but anyone who claims this is better than a good Bond movie was born in the 1980s, is delusional, or both.
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