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#360 - xXx
Rob Cohen, 2002
A thrill-seeking criminal is forcibly recruited to spy on an Eastern European terrorist as he plans to execute a devastating plot.
When xXx first came out, I was about twelve years old and thus likely to be in the target audience for such a film. Unfortunately, I have only just gotten around to seeing this (and also a decade after seeing the 2005 sequel that replaced Vin Diesel with Ice Cube and ended up earning a spot on my "worst 100" list) and thus didn't meet my criteria for a genuinely entertaining action blockbuster. There are a lot of elements that date xXx severely right from the outset, such as the buttrock-heavy soundtrack and the fact that Diesel's protagonist is first depicted stealing the sports car of an elderly white senator who opposes videogames purely for the sake of a subversive Jackass-like stunt. The focus on extreme sports - namely, that Diesel's character loves to perform them and integrates his experience into his spy activities - also guarantees that this film is directed towards individuals of a very particular mindset, which I don't happen to be of. I don't deny that there is talent that goes into performing such stunts, but they shouldn't feel so boring and un-engaging for the most part.
Even though you're not watching a film like xXx for its story, when the action generally doesn't do much to engage you then you have to deal with the story. Diesel's ability as a leading man fluctuates so wildly that it can't be considered legitimately good, while Samuel L. Jackson just generates his usual level of cool as Diesel's detached handler/mentor. Not even Marton Csokas's heavily accented turn as the film's main villain or an extremely ancillary romantic sub-plot involving Diesel and Asia Argento does anything to add to the non-action part of things. xXx isn't egregiously awful, but it's extremely disposable and not even the memorable stunts do much to stand out amidst this half-baked attempt to provide some empty thrills.
Rob Cohen, 2002
A thrill-seeking criminal is forcibly recruited to spy on an Eastern European terrorist as he plans to execute a devastating plot.
When xXx first came out, I was about twelve years old and thus likely to be in the target audience for such a film. Unfortunately, I have only just gotten around to seeing this (and also a decade after seeing the 2005 sequel that replaced Vin Diesel with Ice Cube and ended up earning a spot on my "worst 100" list) and thus didn't meet my criteria for a genuinely entertaining action blockbuster. There are a lot of elements that date xXx severely right from the outset, such as the buttrock-heavy soundtrack and the fact that Diesel's protagonist is first depicted stealing the sports car of an elderly white senator who opposes videogames purely for the sake of a subversive Jackass-like stunt. The focus on extreme sports - namely, that Diesel's character loves to perform them and integrates his experience into his spy activities - also guarantees that this film is directed towards individuals of a very particular mindset, which I don't happen to be of. I don't deny that there is talent that goes into performing such stunts, but they shouldn't feel so boring and un-engaging for the most part.
Even though you're not watching a film like xXx for its story, when the action generally doesn't do much to engage you then you have to deal with the story. Diesel's ability as a leading man fluctuates so wildly that it can't be considered legitimately good, while Samuel L. Jackson just generates his usual level of cool as Diesel's detached handler/mentor. Not even Marton Csokas's heavily accented turn as the film's main villain or an extremely ancillary romantic sub-plot involving Diesel and Asia Argento does anything to add to the non-action part of things. xXx isn't egregiously awful, but it's extremely disposable and not even the memorable stunts do much to stand out amidst this half-baked attempt to provide some empty thrills.