zardoz-13
"Day Another Day" director Lee Tamahori's "xXx: State of the Union" amounts to a solid but superficial sequel to Rob Cohen's sensational "xXx" (2002) starring Vin Diesel with few surprises and revelations. Scenarist Simon Kinberg would graduate to better, more prestigious projects, such as "X-Men: The Last Stand," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," "Sherlock Holmes," and "X-Men: Days of Future Past." Nevertheless, like his standard-issue screenplay for "xXx: State of the Union," Kinberg has penned some deplorable potboilers, such as "Fantastic Four," "Jumper," and "This Means War." Reportedly, both Vin Diesel and Cohen walked off this movie, and producer Neal Moritz had to scramble to keep the franchise going. Despite Tamahori's fast-paced direction and some excellent special effects, "xXx: State of the Union" doesn't really resemble a genuine Triple-X adventure. Instead, this movie looks like a James Bond adventure as well as a homage to John Frankenheimer's brilliant paranoid government thriller "Seven Days in May" where the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs (Burt Lancaster) sought to wrest power from a liberal-minded U.S. President (Frederic March). Similarly, a hardline Secretary of Defense, General George Deckert (Willem Dafoe of "Spider-man"), chafes at the bit to commit treason against the current liberal President James Sanford (Robert Strauss of "Nick of Time") who wants to win their hearts and minds of our enemies. Eventually, Deckert does take Sanford hostage before the new xXx puts his foot into his plan. Aside from Samuel L. Jackson, the only "xXx" character returning to the fold—or perhaps I should say—surviving the initial massacre is armaments expertise Agent Toby Lee Shavers (Michael Roof of "Black Hawk Down") with his knack for dreaming up new weapons for our hero. Conspicuous by its absence are the set-up, training scenes in the two Vin Diesel "xXx" movies."xXx: State of the Union" gets off to a fast and furious start. Deckert's dastards breach a clandestine underground CIA station in Virginia beneath a horse ranch and shoot anybody that moves with terminal efficiency. Later, we learn that Xander Cage was killed in faraway Bora Bora. Essentially, this revelation occurs during little more than an off-the-cuff exchange of expository dialogue between two agents as they survey the destruction done to the facility. Of course, now, we know better because Xander has reappeared in "xXx: Return of Xander Cage." After making a hair-raising escape from that subterranean facility, Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson of "Pulp Fiction") recruits Cage's replacement from a nearby military prison. As it turns out, the new xXx, Darius Stone (Ice Cube of "Ghosts of Mars"), is pugnacious fellow with a criminal background until he become a top-notch Navy SEAL. Darius must beat up his armed guards with his elbows while his wrists remain cuffed, scramble frantically across a rooftop, and improbably enough hurl himself into the air to snag the skid of a helicopter in a rendition of the old Charles Bronson chopper escape thriller "Breakout." Unlike Xander, Darius is no extreme sports fanatic, and he conducts his maneuvers without the fanfare of a skateboard, snowboard, skis, or parachute. Of course, our heroes thwart Deckert and his killers, even when they are speeding away from the capitol on a bullet-train designed especially for the president. Darius pursues Deckert and Sanford in a sleek Shelby coupe roadster that he launches onto the rails behind the bullet-train.Tamahori keeps everything churning at delirious breakneck speed in this sequel. There are plenty of explosive fireworks, but this is strictly a slick, superficial thriller that will eventually look dull in another decade. During a final quarter hour finale, Darius is stabbed in the forearm so he has something else to contend with aside from the obnoxious villains. Augustus is temporarily taken out of the action when Deckert's men abduct him and then plan to use him as the fall guy when they have the Chief Executive executed. Of course, Deckert's grand plan doesn't pan out. Incidentally, Dafoe makes a nasty foe as the chief villain. Scott Speedman is appropriately athletic in his suit and tie as another CIA agent after Deckert, while Alabama-born actress Sunny Mabrey doesn't cut it as a lethal wench with an attitude. British lenser David Tattersall, who shot "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" (1999) and "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" (2005) gives this lackluster actioneer a sense of magnitude with his splendid widescreen cinematography. Solid but second-rate from fade-in to, fadeout, "xXx: State of the Union" gets by on bits and pieces.
The Grand Master
The first xXx was very ordinary and far fetched with Vin Diesel. The sequel xXx 2: The Next Level is no better, in fact it is worse than the first movie. xXx 2 takes the series to a new level, that ends any chance of any further sequels. Despite the fact Vin Diesel (wisely) does not return, instead Ice Cube is the replacement lead. Though Vin Diesel has some charisma about him, Ice Cube is very unconvincing in the lead action role. He is better in supporting roles, and his character is repulsive and with an attitude problem. He spends the entire movie looking angry. Perhaps he was thinking what was he doing in this rubbish.Samuel L. Jackson and Willem Dafoe can't redeem this movie at all. Samuel L. Jackson seemed wasted in the first movie and although he gets more screen time in the sequel, he still appears to be useless. Willem Dafoe came across as an evil tyrant who is missing his trademark villainous laugh. It also looks as if they did this movie purely for the money.Although the first movie was meant to be nonsensical eye candy the doesn't bother with the story, the sequel was purely aimed for teenagers who get a thrill out of seeing stunts and explosions galore and to hell with the story and all logic.I was very glad when the movie ended, unfortunately that was a waste of 101 minutes. Looks like all hopes for a further franchise ended with this dud of a sequel. 1/10.
