Product Details

• Actors: Leila Arcieri, Asia Argento, David Asman, Joe Bucaro III, Marton Csokas
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: Czech, English, German, Russian, Spanish
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: April 29, 2003
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (405 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000714FG
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,860 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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• This is item 1 in The XXX Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Vin Diesel is no James Bond, and he doesn't want to be. That's why XXX announced Diesel as the adrenalin-junkie Bond of the PlayStation generation, copying the Bond formula so shamelessly that this action-packed silliness would be a Bond movie if it starred Pierce Brosnan. Reuniting Diesel with his Fast and the Furious director Rob Cohen, XXX has an attitude (if not a brain) all its own, plucking Diesel's Xander Cage from his celebrity as an extreme sports renegade, recruited by a National Security Agency big shot (Samuel L. Jackson) to foil a nasty Czech villain (Marton Csokas) who's eager to depopulate Prague with remote-controlled biological weaponry. Toss in a sulky, sultry Russian agent (Asia Argento) and you've got extreme Bond-age for anyone who thinks tuxedos are passé. With a handful of eye-popping action sequences, XXX launched a movie franchise with a cool guy, another cool muscle car, and plenty of box-office sizzle. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A slovenly rip-off of the James Bond formula, with Vin Diesel as Xander Cage, an extreme-sports athlete who is recruited into intelligence work. Diesel wears tattoos rather than a tuxedo, and eschews shaken-not-stirred alcoholic beverages. He's also rather less interested in sex than Bond. The movie's real draw is its explosions, which spread flames like ketchup across the easily ignited sets. With Martin Csokas caressing his swinish lines as a supervillain and Asia Argento as a witch-eyed shady lady. The movie was not directed; it was launched (by Rob Cohen), in the familiar corporate-schlock style of recent blockbusters, and there are long sequences in which the shots barely hang together. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ultimate Popcorn Movie, and As Such It Works Well, November 12, 2002

By	Tsuyoshi - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

[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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars XXX makes Showgirls look like an Oscar winner, January 3, 2003

By	S. Kelly (Massapequa Park, New York United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: XXX (Widescreen Special Edition) (DVD)

I have to admit I am picky in the movies I like but I sat through XXX with a friend just waiting to see how bad this would be. Boy how I wish I had the two hours of my life back that I wasted watching this. This was the most awful movie I ever saw. I thought Queen of the Damned was bad but XXX takes the cake as the worst movie ever. Vin Diesel looks like a deer in the headlights trying to get his lines right. The confusion on his face just oozed out when trying to say a three syllable word. The movie was aimed at the teen/MTV world who do not like any dialoge in thier movies. The stunts were old, tired and cheesey and defied any bit of reality. And the effects looked like a cartoon. They used so many digital effects it was hard not to notice. Does anyone use really explosions anymore ? Yes it is a movie but when someone jumps 40 to 50 feet in the air on a dirtbike something is going to break. But neither Vin Diesel or the bike had a scratch. Just another bad line after every action sequence. I would rarely think of writing a review here but I just wanted to warn my fellow movie fans of this horror of a film. I like action movies like The Matrix, T2, Total Reacall that have great action and a good story. XXX was just one long commercial for motor bikes, the X-Games and sleeping pills

84 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best of the summer blockbusters, to date., September 25, 2002

By	Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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