swilliky Riding off the success of Pitch Black and The Fast and the Furious, Vin Diesel kept up the stealing cars and criminal hero act with xXx. Diesel plays stuntman Xander Cage who is recruited by NSA Agent Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) to help nab Russian criminals in the Czech Republic. The leader of this group of criminal is a stock villain named Yorgi (Marton Csokas). The acting is over the top and the stunts are outrageous making for a mediocre action flick.Xander Cage takes on a role as an anti-James Bond and solves the international crises that men in nice suits can't. The scar-faced Agent Gibbons puts xXx through a series of tests, knocking him out and throwing him into situations a normal person wouldn't survive. Xander uses his extreme sports skills from biking to skating to outrageous driving to get out of trouble. Facing a lifelong prison sentence, Xander agrees to work with the NSA and heads to the Czech republic. He quickly falls in with the group of criminal using his lack of respect for rules as a gateway into gaining the trust of Yorgi. Xander encounters and falls for the mysterious Yelena (Asia Argento) who he discovers is a secret agent herself. When Xander reveals her secret to her, she doesn't believe him until his cover is blown and he is taken off the mission. Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com

Nicolas F. Costoglou ...is this movie in a nutshell. It has everything: Gadgets, Cars, Women, Guns, a doomsday device and a rich villain with many soldiers for our hero to kill.But Xander Cage is no trained spy, but a extreme sports fanatic and also a rebel against authority, and Vin Diesel, which are three points that make him even better than our tuxedo-wearing friend...The cinematography and editing is very good, mostly for the action sequences and (still) very impressive stunts.Also the special and visual effects are top notch for a movie from 2002.The style however is typical...typical Rob Cohen...typical early- 2000's EXTREME-nes. The music for example is pure early 2000's rock and hasn't aged that well, but the orchestral soundtrack is not that bad.The story is interesting and never get's dull, so that it's entertaining all the way through.It's a fun action movie, with a very entertaining lead and some incredibly impressive stunts...

Leofwine_draca A brain-dead exercise in OTT action, lacking in wit, style, and intelligence. Yet not without a certain moronic charm to recommend it. xXx is basically FAST AND FURIOUS director Rob Cohen's take on the whole spy/Bond sub-genre, in much the same style as his car-racing flick: big, loud, obnoxious, and obnoxiously smug, thinking itself to be the hippest, most stylish offering yet, when in fact it offers the same tired clichés and obvious paper-thin plot and situations. It starts off relatively well, with bizarre situations (a fake diner hold-up) and a particularly unlikable leading man, the rude and charmless Xander Cage who does dumb things like parachute from a car falling off a bridge. After a little while, and a change of location to Prague, things become typically dumb: Cage breaks into the baddies' inner circle, falls in love, gets found out, then lots of people shoot each other until the film finishes. Hmm.It does look good, with great locations and a budget which is able to convincingly portray the special effects in a good light. But the action is fast, yes, furious, no, most of it being unconvincing in the extreme, yet not in a good way like one of those zany kung fu flicks. They're in it for the fun, this tries to be realistic, it doesn't work. There are outrageous stunts – Cage's trick with the dinner tray, for instance, and plenty of big-bucks OTT explosions and even avalanches. There are admittedly some bits that work (I liked the exploding flying motorbike shot, so shoot me) and it certainly seems fast-paced with little drag. The cast, too, keeps it interesting: Diesel's lunk is still different enough to be worth a watch, whether just to hear his latest big-headed wisecrack; Euro-villain Marton Csokas is pretty charismatic, and a few stalwarts show up like Danny Trejo and Samuel L. Jackson, playing riffs on routine characterisations. The hot Asia Argento is also present, and her appearance may be enough to make male viewers watch it; there's something so base and low about her here that she's a character hard to resist – some might say Dario's greatest offspring (or is that SUSPIRIA)? So, all in all, not bad…typical, but enough stuff to keep watching.

Terryfan I remember in high school a lot of students were talking about this movie xXx. Staring Vin Diesel, Samuel L Jackson, Asia Argento, among others.Just watching this film after so long of not seeing it made me think about how much my view point of it has change back then I enjoy it and I still do today but it's not a perfect film.Then again it wasn't set up to be that way but still don't think I'm bashing the film no sir no ma'am I'm not. I enjoy the film it just has been so long until a few months ago that I just watch it again to see how it holds up today.The story of the film features Vin Diesel plays Xander Cage an Adrenaline junkie who ends up getting the attention of Agent Augustus Gibbons of the NSA who recruits Cage for a job to become a spy for him.The Soundtrack of the film has a mix of metal and hip hop songs featuring Gavin Rossdale, Drowning Pool,Nelly, N.E.R.D., Queen of the Stone Age and much more. The theme of the film is "Adrenaline" by Gavin Rossdale which in it own right match the film and the character of Xander Cage so good job by the music department to pick this song as the film theme.What is the driving factor of the film is the action and stunts are pretty much out of this world. Some stunts almost think that was impossible for them to pull it off. But sure enough it was very well done which is enough to keep your interest. Some of the cast could have been do with out but Vin did well as the anti hero of the film since he wasn't intend to being in the mess in the first place but he was in it non the less.Some of the characters could have been better off not making it onto the film but what can you say about it but still I found the film to be enjoyable.With great stunts, tight soundtrack it's enough to enjoy the filmI give xXx an 8 out of 10