I have liked Vin Diesel as an actor since I saw him in one of the best science fiction movies ever made, PITCH BLACK.
In PITCH BLACK, Vin played criminal Riddick who must save the crew of a crashed spaceship from creatures that come out every
22 years. Vin went on to do THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS.
Now he stars as Xander Cage aka Triple X or X to his friends in a fucking awesome movie called xXx (Triple X). XXX just
rocked as a movie. It is like you took all of the really incredible stunts from all of the James Bond movies and put into
one movie. A movie that raises the bar for James Bond. I hope the producers of the latest James Bond movie are taking notes
because DIE ANOTHER DAY will have to pretty fucking impressive to beat out XXX as the best spy movie of the year.
XXX takes spy action movies into the 21st century with style by having an anti-hero who is an extreme sports
buff recruited by the NSA to save the world from Anarchy 99 (lead by former Russian military guy Yorgi) that wants to use
a bio-chemical agent called Silent Night to bring anarchy to the world and topple all of the worlds governments by killing
lots of people (and no one is wiser to who done it causing many wars in the process). Xander is tranqed twice by the NSA and
put through tests to see if he is the one who can infiltrate Anarchy 99 and find out all of the information he can. He gets
entangled with Yelena (played by Asia Argento who is the daughter of Italian horror director Dario Argento) who is one cold
bitch that happens to give Xander mixed signals. Of course, Xander frequently disobeys orders from the guy who recruited him,
Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson in scarred face mode).
Vin Diesel just makes Xander Cage work. Xander is like the anti-Bond. Robert Cohen directs this movie with a deft hand
from the start of the movie where a James Bond type is killed to the final stunts in the last half hour of the movie. There
are even a couple good bits of foreshadowing and a Q like figure who is the true geek he should be.
Also some things in the movie turn standard James Bond cliches on their head!!! Sometimes the dialouge isnt as good as
it should be, but there are enough great lines for Vin to say. This is his show. This is his time to shine and he found the
right vehicle to do it in. There is the snowboard stunt, motorcycle stunts, and parachute stunts. And I have to say again
how much this movie just rocks even hours after seeing it. XXX was a fun two hours to watch and I want to see this one again.
I cant wait for the DVD! The DVD better be out for Christmas and include plenty of fantastic extras and a Vin Diesel commentary.
Bow before the vIn because I almost feel like writing a song called I Just Want to be Like Vin Diesel.
I expect the sequel to XXX to be just as good or better. Vin will soon be starring in RIDDICK, the sequel to PITCH
BLACK, and I predict RIDDICK will be as big a hit as XXX will be. Watch out because you have entered the Xander Zone and nothing
will ever be the same again after youve seen XXX.
this review is (c)2002 (August 2002) David Blackwell and can't be reprinted without the author's permission.
