When his old boss Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) is killed, Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) is brought out of retirement to retrieve a device called Pandora’s Box which has been stolen by an elite band of daredevils.
Xander gathers his own team to chase down the group, who turn out to be a group of rogue xXx agents.
In the end, Xander and this team join forces to defeat the government forces who wish to use the device to dominate the world.
In the words of Ice Cube, “Thank God the Gangsta’s back”. After three movies, just like Bond, xXx finally figured out what it is. Yes, I’m saying this is the Goldfinger of xXx movies.
When I first reviewed this movie in 2017, I did not care for it. After a couple years away, and after watching the previous movies, it finally clicked. This movie is what xXx should have been all along.
The opening scene with Sam Jackson is more fun and energetic than the first two movies combined. His death segueing into the title credit feels like the ultimate ego flex - the other famous name in this franchise is dead; Vin has returned!
This movie feels like a remake of the original, except the filmmakers know how ridiculous the premise, and lean into that silliness with tongue in cheek. The scene of Xander skiing through the jungle, hi-fiving bus passengers; Xander seducing a roomful of hackers/models to retrieve his wooly jacket; the introductions of the other xXx agents; every line of dialogue that Nina Dobrev has… this movie has no pretensions to be anything other than a string of ridiculous stunts, characters and one-liners.
The other thing that makes this movie hilarious is how much of a Vin Diesel ego trip this movie is. While DJ Caruso’s name is under the director title, this is a Vin Diesel movie (‘DJ Caruso’ sounds like his directing alias).
I could use the same list of examples to point out how this movie is meant to make Vin look like the coolest guy in the world. Maybe this is just me knowing that Vin is a big DnD guy, but every time he is with a woman it feels like a 13 year-old writing himself into an action movie: “And I do sick turns on a skateboard. And I can ski through the jungle. And every woman loves me”.
It is Vin rebuilding the franchise on the formula of his other gig, but this time it pays off. Diesel seems to recognise that he works when he is growling and stomping around as part of an ensemble.
What makes the experience better is that the cast all seem to be having fun. Donny Yen is the guy that Vin Diesel thinks Xander Cage is - here is hoping that he returns in the next movie because it would be nice to have at least one person who can actually do xXxtreme stuff.
Does Toni Collette want to be here, or is she leaning into the silliness of the movie? It does not matter because her archness/disinterest are a welcome bonus to the movie’s vibe.
Deepika Padukone is a fine actress - she was great in Padmaavat from a couple years ago - but she seems out of place here. She seems a bit too highbrow for this nonsense.
The one actor who knows exactly what kind of movie she is in is Nina Dobrev. her character should be straight garbage - she spends her first scene mooning over Cage - but she brings a real enthusiasm to proceedings that is infectious.
Not everything in the movie is great. The series can still not work out how to create memorable action sequences - most of them are fine but they do fumble, particularly with Tony Jaa.
The filmmakers completely short-sell Jaa - they give him fight sequences which are so over-edited that you cannot tell what is going on. It almost makes me wonder if it was some BTS flexing from the movie’s star so he was not overshadowed.
The one fight scene that works is Donnie Yen’s one-man assault on the bad guys’ plane - it actually uses wide shots and a moving camera to show off the choreography.
What is interesting about this movie is how it does not ignore Part 2, but (probably unintentionally) elaborates and improves upon its conceit that xXx is a codename which can be passed from agent to agent, by making lots and lots of xXx agents. When Ice Cube shows up, I was unnecessarily happy - it is so great that Vin brought him back in. And Vin looks like a good guy. The man is a genius!
Like The Next Level, this movie follows the second one in that it takes an idea from its predecessor and evolves it: here, xXx is re-positioned as an independent organisation that will police the intelligence community and foil its various schemes - this feels more in keeping with the rogue credentials of the xXx idea.
After three movies, xXx has finally found a groove - it is seriously indebted to Diesel’s other gig, but it works. This movie shows that you need more than just extreme sports Bond, because James Bond technically does extreme sports. This movie is what the original thought it was, but better. At the end of xXx 3, Cage has basically turned into an xXxtreme version of Robin Hood, with a team of xXxtremely Merry Men/people.
You will be unsurprised to learn that I am xXxtremely xXxcited for xXx 4.
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