xXx - 2002

Revolution Studios, Original Film

Directed by Rob Cohen

Cast:

• Xander Cage – Vin Diesel
• Augustus Gibbons – Samuel L. Jackson
• Yelena – Asia Argento
• Yorgi – Marton Csokas
• Toby Lee Shavers – Michael Roof
• Milan Sova – Richy Müller
• Kirill – Werner Daehn
• Kolya – Petr Jákl
• El Jefe – Danny Trejo

Story: The NSA is trying to infiltrate a very nasty group of criminals in the Czech Republic, but every time they send in an agent, he is identified and killed. Call in Augustus Gibbons, and his plan to recruit new talent from outside the agency...way outside. They go through an elaborate testing process and the winner is: Xander Cage. Xander is reluctant, to say the least. “Do I look like a fan of Law Enforcement?!”, but Gibbons encourages him to take the assignment or spend the rest of his life in prison. He flys to Prague, where the local authorities don't want him there any more than he wants to be there, and meets up with the leader of Anarchy 99, a group of former Russian soldiers with a plan to eliminate the governments of the world and create total anarchy. His mission? Stop them at all costs.

Review: Triple X, is an updated version of James Bond battling the evil forces of SMERSH or SPECTRE or whatever group of baddies are in the mix at the time. Vin's character, the extreme sport athlete known as Xander Cage, is the ideal candidate for this type of assignment. He's agile, quick on his feet, and knows how to deal with the counter culture. Some people have said in reviews he is not “acting” in this film, but they are probably the same folks who feel that Anthony Hopkins is just another pretentious Englishman. Samuel L. Jackson does an excellent job of protraying the pragmatic NSA operative who realizes the world is changing, even if his superiors do not. Marton Csokas (and the rest of his mob) are all two dimensional, stereotypical bad guys, and the good guys are the same...which is exactly what they needed to be for this film. Asia Argento may never win an academy award, but she rises to the task in xXx portraying Yelena, the forgotton FSB agent who is trying to survive. The real treats in the film are the inclusion of Danny Trejo as the Columbian drug lord and Michael Roof as Toby Lee Shavers, the “Q” of the NSA who has only two loves, making impossible weapons and chasing (unsuccessfully) hot women, of which there are plenty in this film. In short, this is an incredibly adept and insightful parody of the Bond genre that has been railroaded as an attempt at a serious action film. And that is particularly disturbing considering how often we use the letter X to denote eXtreme. When you watch this film, enjoy it for what it is, a flight of fantasy taken to the Extreme. Rated PG-13 for violence and language and some innuendo, the teens in the house ought to enjoy this as much as anyone who likes Bond genre films. If you are a collector of spy films, this is a must have.