Time: 101 Minutes
Age Rating: M
Cast:
Ice Cube as Darius Stone
Samuel L. Jackson as Augustus Gibbons
Willem Dafoe as George Deckert
Scott Speedman as Kyle Steele
Peter Strauss as President James Sanford
Director: Lee Tamahori

The first xXx wasn’t good, but it was entertaining for what it was. The sequel is pretty much like that first movie, except that it’s somehow worse.

xXx was a trashy action flick that was riffing on the James Bond movies, and it had a sort of endearing charm to it, especially with how cool it seemed to think it was. With State of the Union, that is absent. Any kind of enjoyment found feels like it’s completely at the movie’s expense. State of the Union feels more like an average 2000s action movie that attempts to take things seriously. The plot feels more generic and forgettable, and the overall movie feels less inspired. It gets boring when they have anything other than an action scene. That said, it still maintains a lot of the silliness, with somehow cheesier and worse dialogue and many implausible and ludicrous moments.

Vin Diesel might be stiff and act the same in everything, but at least had some goofy charm as Xander Cage in the first xXx. Compared to him, Ice Cube is a charisma vacuum. He has done some good work in other movies, but he’s not good here at all and isn’t convincing as an action star. Samuel L. Jackson and Willem Dafoe do at least pick up some of the slack, particularly Dafoe.

Lee Tamahori’s direction here is pretty average. The visuals could be dodgy in the previous movie but it leans further into the CGI in the sequel and it all looks somehow worse, resembling a PlayStation 2 cutscene at points. The action is also worse than its predecessor, but it is watchable and not horrible.

xXx: State of the Union is an average action flick and is worse than its predecessor, absent of any charm and with worse CGI.