RonaldBruceMeyer.com
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RonaldBruceMeyer.com
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XXX (2002)   Reviewed 2002-09-01: "I like anything fast enough to do something stupid in." So says Xander Cage (35-year-old Vin Diesel). Xander is an extreme sports daredevil (is that redundant?) and one badass dude, with an attitude to match: "Take off these handcuffs so I can beat the shit out you," he says at one point. And that's while he's in training! You see, Xander used to be one step ahead of the law, but when a covert ops boss named Gibbons (a scar-faced Samuel L. Jackson) catches up with him, he gives Xander "the choice": work for me or spend your prime in prison. It's a bit hard to believe that threat would scare him, but after registering his contempt -- "Before you ask someone to save the world, you'd better make sure they like it the way it is" -- Xander agrees to infiltrate ex-Soviet military men turned terrorists.XXX is both a send-up of James Bond films and a tribute to them. While winking at the conventions (or are they clichés?), this film makes them hip and reinvigorates them, not only with attitude -- Xander has some great one-liners -- but with wall-to-wall fun. The action is pretty much nonstop: from the training sequences, through the avalanche Xander starts and "rides" ("Nothing like fresh powder."), to the final, incredible action sequence ("I wish I had a video camera, 'cause this is going to be one hell of a trick."), you're in the Xander Zone, bold tattoos and all. He's a new hero for a new century, and loyal to the cause: "I've been risking my life for a lot of stupid reasons. This is the first one that makes sense to me." Vin Diesel is extreme -- and extremely watchable. But he has some help along the way. Xander's "Bond Girl," Yelena, is 27-year-old Italian actress Asia Argento, who pretends not to like Xander, but come on! How can you not like Xander? Argento is dark and lovely, but also dangerous -- just his kind of girl. And it turns out she's his ticket inside the terror organization headed by Yorgi (36-year-old New Zealand-born actor Marton Csokas), who has a particularly nasty habit of offing his hired help. He operates out of a castle in the Czech Republic -- more leaves from the book of Bond -- and wants to take over the world. There's nothing to stop him but... XXX. If this is the Bond beyond, I'll be watching Vin Diesel again because he's with the Good Guys. "The things I'm gonna do for my country." Want to comment on this review? Send me an e-mail! |
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Ronald Bruce Meyer is a freelance reviewer. |
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