Time: 124 Minutes
Age Rating: M – contains violence & offensive language
Cast:
Vin Diesel as Xander “XXX” Cage
Samuel L. Jackson as Augustus Gibbons
William Hope as Roger Donnan
Danny Trejo as “El Jefe”
Asia Argento as Yelena
Marton Csokas as Yorgi
Director: Rob Cohen

Going in, I knew xXx as being a Vin Diesel action movie (as well as not having the easiest title to search online), and didn’t have the highest expectations for it. It isn’t not good, but I had some fun with it.

xXx is essentially a take on (or rip off of) James Bond, except the central spy is an extreme sports athlete. The plot is very forgettable, the writing is cheesy and the dialogue is very cringeworthy. However, it is a fairly easy and light watch, and if your tolerance to trashy action movies is high, there’s some fun that can be had with this. It also helps that it fully knows what kind of movie it is. xXx is 2 hours long but it really should’ve been closer to 90 minutes, that would’ve been the perfect sort of length for this kind of movie.

Vin Diesel gives a very familiar performance as protagonist Xander Cage, he’s pretty much just Dominic Toretto, with more tattoos and a silly coat. Samuel L. Jackson also stars here as Cage’s handler, he’s also fine, if in autopilot mode within his generic role.

Rob Cohen’s direction is dated on a technical level. The effects are very dodgy and visually has a lot of the 2000s action trashiness to it. The action isn’t the best, but it is fairly entertaining to watch at least. xXx is also accompanied by a very 2000s soundtrack to complete the whole vibe.

xXx (2002) is an over the top, cheesy and dated action flick, but is enjoyable in parts.