Customer Reviews

XXX (Unrated Director's Cut)

5 star:		(131)
4 star:		(93)
3 star:		(59)
2 star:		(34)
1 star:		(93)

 

 

[Actually, my rating is 3.5 though I liked it pretty much.]

Contrary to many reviewers, I went to see "XXX" just to see Asia Argento, daughter of famous horror maestro Dario. Of course, I knew Vin Diesel and Sam Jackson, and a greta fan of the latter. Also, I have seen Vin's great sci-fi thriller "Pitch Black," but to me, she is the one to see.

Anyway, "XXX" proved two following things; Vin Diesel is the action star of the next generation (another candidate is, probably, the Rock), and his name will be much more famous than he is now. (Actually while I was watching Serie A games, Italian football games on cable TV, his name was shown extensively in the ads on the ground.) He deserves much attention from us, and his metoric rise of career surely comes from his charisma, which can be easily seen in this otherwise OK action film.

The plot of "XXX" about the instant-made spy with 'I-am-BAAAAAD' attitude is not new. Sam Jackson's role as a reluctant boss handling the most desperate case of international terrorism (and this hopeless novice spy) seems, or is, too clithed. But Vin Diesel fits so well in the key role of Xander Cage, most daredevil extreme sports expert, that no one cares many plot holes there, or the stunts and explosions obviously helped greatly by CGIs.

The other thing "XXX" shows is that, like many other James Bond films, the female parts are less effectively used. Asia Argento, herself already having made a long career as an actress and even a director (this part of career she and Vin Diesel both share), plays Yelena, a mystrious girl from Russia, standing next to the mastermind of the secret organization 'Anarchy 99" which contemplates something, but you soon realize the truth about her and her identity. Like any 'Bond Girl' you pick, she is there to help and love the hero, and maybe she should be so. But I wanted more from her part, just all right as it is.

Hyper-actions galore (on the rousing chase scenes on the river, on the snow-capped mountains, and even on the stairs of Prague ... the last one using some unique thing for skateboard), "XXX" delivers as much as any action flick fans expect. However, it is not the Bond-like gimmicks or action scenes that attract you most. It is Vin Diesel, whose unexpectedly soft eyes betray that this guy cannot be really evil. And the film finally proves that. That is what we call predictable, but in this case, Vin's presence barely makes you forget the fact.

Let me first tell ya why I loved this movie. I really enjoy Vin's other movies. I liked him in "The Iron Giant" (HE WAS THE ROBOT!!), "Pitch Black" (supposed to be filming the sequel right now), "The Fast and the Furious" (must I explain?!?) and his dramatic role in "Boiler Room" totally made him an actor to watch. I enjoyed his really sharp witted, sarcastic humor. This is a movie that I will be owning on the day it comes out on DVD (hopefully a 2-disc DVD is in the works with 5.1 EX surround and hours of bonus footage). There's enough action to make any Arnold fan happy, but guess what, VIN IS WAY BETTER! Now for my short review:

Xander "xXx" Cage is a daring, extreme athlete who is chosen by the NSA to go to Russia and find out information about some people. But what he finds out is very dangerous.

I also loved Asia Argento's (she needs to be in more American movies, she is already a hit in her native Italy) performance in this movie. She added a kinda Lara Croft-type girl presence to the movie. I wish there was a PlayStation 2 game in the works so I could play every single moment of this exciting movie. But for now we have to play a GameBoy Advance game, which I'm sure is okay. This is a great movie none the less. The soundtrack is great (look out for an appearance by Rammstein in the beginning, plus look out for Tony Hawk) check this movie out!

XXX (Rob Cohen, 2002)

Here's a surprise: Rob Cohen, whose The Fast and the Furious was not only one of the biggest surprise hits of 2001 but also by far the biggest of Cohen's career, teams up again with Vin Diesel. The major lineup change here is the addition of screenwriter Rich Wilkes. Anyone familiar with the name should be ready to crawl under their seats right about now; Wilkes has been responsible in the past for such deathless cinematic fare as The Jerky Boys and The Stoned Age.

Whatever Cohen did to Wilkes, though, he did it right. XXX is absolutely typical run-of-the-mill shut-your-brain-off spy movie fare, so cut from the cloth of James Bond that the opening scene of the film features a nameless tuxedoed secret agent getting shot in the middle of a Rammstein concert. Cohen and Diesel threw down the gauntlet from the get-go to Albert Broccoli and Co. (and if the trailers for the new Bond film are anything to go by, "Bond"'s death at the beginning of this film is most welcome. Actually, it probably should have come after A View to a Kill. But let's not be petty.)

XXX goes right into the wonderful world of Bond starting soon after, including a scientist/weapons geek (relative newcomer Michael Roof, last seen in Black Hawk Down), a number of fabulous one-liners, and the most beautiful women in Hollywood falling at his feet, in this case Asia Argento. (Asia fans take note: you won't see nearly as much of her, in any respect, as you did in b.Monkey. Grieve now.)

So what is it about XXX that makes it the best of the big-budget summer films? The movie does exactly what it promises. You go into XXX looking for a mindless action movie, and you get a mindless action movie. Diesel is one of Hollywood's hottest properties right now, Cohen is finally hitting his stride after two decades of failed attempts to be deep and meaningful, Wilkes wrote a script that actually contains some humor, and the three of them will be back together again for the sequel in 2004.

Eighteen films from now, hopefully, someone will shoot Xander Cage in the middle of a Rammstein concert, and there will be a new superspy. Until then, sit back and enjoy the ride. *** ½

What happens when you cross a little James Bond, extreme sports, Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson, and the director of "Fast and the Furious", you get a fun-loving adventure film called, "xXx".

"xXx" starts with the CIA discovering that their current stock of secret agents are unable to get undercover with a new gang of international terrorists. The terrorists enjoy spending their time at a trendy dance club, enjoying fast cars, and even faster women. With no hope of placing one of the current CIA agents into this organization, Special Agent Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson), decides to begin recruiting some "new talent" that would fit in to the terrorist's world. Enter Xander Cage (Vin Diesel), an extreme sports junky that hosts his own extreme show, The Xander Zone. After clashing with the law one to many times, earning him the three strikes penalty that will surely land him in prison, Gibbons offers Xander an opportunity to repay his country for the freedom he enjoys by inserting himself into the world of this terrorist organization, while trying to discover what exactly they are planning.

"xXx" is by no means a replacement to the 007 films, but it is an entertaining alternative for the new generation. With plenty of action and explosions, even a decent storyline and acting, this is quite an enjoyable movie. Critic's of Diesel saying that he was a poor man's James Bond, should realize that neither Diesel or the filmmaker's set out to replace James Bond, merely give audiences a new, uncoventional kind of spy movie. "xXx" had the makings of a highly successful franchise with the phenomenal box office success that this film enjoyed, sadly the sequel "xXx: State of the Union" was not nearly as good.

Even though the sequel was lackluster, "xXx" is quite enjoyable. If you are a fan of action movies that actually have a story to accompany the explosive action sequences, then "xXx" is the movie for you. Go check it out, you won't be disappointed.

"xXx: Unrated Director's Cut" contains violence, nudity, and language.

First off, I like the film. But... the blu-ray is disappointing. The clarity is not what I expected and no better than the DVD. In a word, grainy. So, if you got the film on DVD, just keep than and enjoy a fun action film. The blu-ray has no further special features or anything else special.

"xXx" can be summed up in four words: "Joylessly Over The Top". It is easily the dumbest movie I have seen in a long career of enjoying dumb movies, and that's saying A LOT. I liked "Deep Rising", for God's sake.

You all know the story: Extreme Sports maverick Xander "XXX" Cage is given a choice by the government: Work as a secret agent, or go to prison for life. He chooses option A. And so this train wreck of a movie begins. Lets start with the story. As a dumb action movie, I am inclined to ignore the gaping plot holes and let myself enjoy the action. This is allowed in most dumb movies. However, you need some convincing performances or at least some good lines to make this forgiveable. "xXx" has none of these, save a good turn by Samuel L. Jackson as Diesel's recruiter and contact in the NSA. Now, the NSA has no field agents in real life. The only people they recruit are number crunchers who can sift through encripted data and listen in on conversations. And they certainly don't have the kind of secret weapons cache like the one Diesel gets in this flick. At least Bond film have the good sense to make him MI-6, a real British spy agency that MIGHT have stuff like the gear Bond gets. Why not make the agency the CIA? I mean, at least the CIA has operatives. I don't know why this bothered me so much, but perhaps it's because I've read books on the subject and the stupidity of Hollywood is getting to me.

Anyway, Back to Samuel L. He's always good, but in this movie he is only serviceable. Still, compared to Vin Diesel, Jackson turns in a performance of Shakesperean power. Diesel is that bad in these scenes. I was actually embarrassed for him when I saw him act alongside Jackson. Ah-nold would make a more convincing Hamlet than Diesel does in this role. Of course, when he's along other bad actors like Asia Argento(Generic Female Counterpart) and Marton Csokas(Generic Russian Bad Guy), he seems serviceable. The movie would have been better if they had cast, say, Eric Roberts in the Jackson role, since he can't act either. At least than Vin wouldn't look lost in his scenes with him.

The plot is neo-Bond with a techno/metal soundtrack, in which a group called "Anarchy 99" plans to wipe out a whole bunch of people using toxic gas and a lame submarine. Vin has to infiltrate them and stop them. Why the US government would send an untried agent against these guys is never explained, as nothing Diesel does couldn't have been done with someone they gave a deep background to. Despite the opening scene, where a Bond-lookalike gets offed, the government actually trains operatives to infiltrate groups like this.

On to the direction. Rob Cohen proved with "The Fast and the Furious" that he is a heavily incompetent action director(Forget acting. Anyone who heard Diesel perform the line "I live my life a quarter mile at a time" in that mess knows Cohen can't direct actors). The digital scenes in "Furious" looked awful, and they look awful here as well. The action is blown over the top in an attempt to make up fot the shoddy directing. With the exception of one memorable scene involving the destruction of a corvette, everything in "xXx" is uninvolving and unoriginal. Hence the tern "joyless". It's all a technical excercise. There is no sense of danger, as Diesel is apparently able to do 18 things at once and never appears at risk. Cohen should be locked away for his many crimes against cinema.

All in all, I hated this movie(could you tell?). I wanted my money back. I want Vin Diesel to stick to roles like Riddick in "Pitch Black", where his dialouge is minimal. Avoid buying this one and pick up an old Bond movie or even the flawed but interesting "Minority Report". You'll thank yourself later.

This was Vin Diesel's best action movie, and I'm a big fan of spy movies. And it has everything in it that an action-movie junkie could dream of...1. Big, loud action sequences 2. hot and sexy women 3. great humor ( as well as some very chessy but very funny punchlines) 4. a movie star up to the challenge of this kind of film 5. and let's not forget a great soundtrack that goes perfectly with the movie. In my personal opinion people went in to go see this movie for exactly what if offered to them from the previews, and it got the job done 100%+ and than some. I love every moment of this movie from beginining to end. And Vin Diesel himself, he just eitherr too cool or just too funny in this movie at times. All in all, I've made XXX one of my all time favorite action movies, and proud of it too.

2002 saw the release of a new James Bond movie that was the best Bond movie in years. However, surprisingly Die Another Day was not the best secret agent film of 2002. That honor goes to xXx. Vin Diesel stars as Xander Cage, an underground daredevil recruited by Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson), a National Security Agency administrator, to infiltrate a European terrorist ring. All the conventional James Bond-type secret agents have failed in their attempts to carry out this mission so the unconventional Xander is the next men thrown into the fire in a move that some say is desperate, but which Gibbons says is inspired. Xander of course does not warm up to the idea but comes around when faced with the prospect of spending his time in prison instead. What follows is a series of gunfights, car chases, and audacious stunt pieces all with an "extreme sports" slant. For all intents and purposes, this mishmash of a movie shouldn't work, but work it does. Director Rob Cohen doesn't always stage the action effectively but Vin Diesel elevates the film by infusing the right amount of detachment and irrelevance into his character. Xander is not the self-assured secret agent that Bond is, but rather a fish out of water who can't help but admit that he's over his head at times. It is this degree of vulnerability that makes xXx a much more interesting film than the James Bond films. Bond long ago turned into an indestructable superman who couldn't be bothered with even a wrinkle in his tuxedo. Xander is a real person who is placed within an atypical situation and acts accordingly in response to it. It's true that Xander does not possess the refinement or suaveness of Bond, but if you want a secret agent with more of a mean streak then xXx is the man for you.

I love watching action movies, even if some of them are no-brainers! My purpose of going to the movies is very simple: firstly, to be entertained within a span of about two hours, & secondly to pick out some interesting & useful ideas.

Triple X is one such action movie. The plot is very simple: An extreme sports renegade (with no fear but has a bad attitude), Xander Cage (played by Vin Diesel), is recruited by a NSA big shot, Augustus Gibbons (played by Samuel Jackson), to spy on & then foil an attempt by a nasty group of Czech criminals, known as Anarchy 99, & led by a crazy villian, Yorgi (played by Marton Csokas) who had some nutty ideas to change the world using a biological virus, called Silent Night.

The many high-octane action sequences (cars, bikes, skis, boats, helicopters,...), all the way from the opening scene & the attendant rampant explosions, plus all the state-of-the-art weaponry, including a super-duper Bond-like vehicle, in the movie are quite fun to watch. The dialogue is witty, too. [For example, in Prague, while Xander was about to go to bed with a sexy girl, with compliments from Yorgi of course, he remarked: "The things I'm gonna do for my country."]

Among others, there is one particular dialogue, between Gibbons & Cage, during the first half of the movie which strikes my personal attention.

When Gibbons offers Cage a job to work for the US government, with a view to redeem the latter's crimes, Cage turns him down flatly. That's when Gibbons tells him the story about the difference between the eyes of a lion in captivity & the eyes of a lion in the wild.

This also reminds me of an insightful dialogue between Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) & Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) in one of the earlier scenes of the movie, Rocky III. [In contrast to Triple XXX, Rocky III is an intelligent movie.] The movie tells the story of how Creed convinces & retrains a down-&-out Rocky to go back into the ring to fight againt Clubber Lang (Mr T) who had earlier gave Rocky a thorough bashing in humiliating defeat. In that particular scene, Creed tells the story about "the eye of the tiger". Creed desperately wants Rocky to regain his focus quickly in order to win. Incidentally, this is also the title of the movie's signature tune.

These are certainly interesting learning points, especially in terms of understanding life (or survival) skills. I often share these stories with teens who are searching for directions in life.

In summing up, I have enjoyed watching Triple XXX & learned something interesting - & useful - along the way.

Well folks here we are again. As with all hollywood movies that spawn a sequel, a re-release of the original movie is usually a precursor to the new film. The re-release is usually peppered with shameless tie-ins to the new film, and "xXx: Uncensored Unrated Director's Cut" is no exception. This release is, however, does have advantages over the original release. The most notably being the 8 minutes of extra footage not seen in the theatrical release. Anyone who has the original DVD will recognize the additional footage as the deleted scenes from the first release. This might not seem like much of an improvement but the movie flows so seamlessly that its hard to spot the new footage and it does add to the overall tone of the movie.

This release is a two disc set, with the typical making of and stunt featurettes that are a staple of action movies such as this. The release also includes the trailer for and a sneek peek at the new film. There is also a short that I consider to be the one notable blemish on an otherwise great re-release.

WARNING: If you are a big fan of this film like me, and do not wish to permenantly damage your opinion of this movie, I highly recommend you give serious consideration to watching the included "The Final Chapter: The Death Of Xander". As the title implies, this short tells of Xander's ultimate demise and is designed to bridge the two films. This short might not have been so bad had it not been for the gruesomeness and finality of our hero's death that leaves almost no chance for a surprise return. One wonders if this short was retribution from director Rob Cohen for Vin Diesel not doing the sequel.

In conclusion, if your still reading, the re-release of this film is an improvement over the original with the additional footage but some of the bonus features are something to be desired or hated. Just depends on how big a fan you are.