Ice Cube stars as
Darius Stone, a thrill-seeking troublemaker whose criminal record
and extreme sports obsession make him the perfect candidate to be
the newest xXx agent. He must save the U.S. government from a
deadly conspiracy led by five-star general and Secretary of
Defense George Deckert (Willem Dafoe). Only a renegade xXx agent
like Stone has the Xtreme skills to stop Deckert's dangerous
military splinter group from taking over the government in
America's capital.
CRITIQUE
This sequel to the
successful first movie did not do well at the box office (in fact
it tanked pretty bad), but these days the home entertainment
market is booming. I didn't see this in theaters for obvious
reasons, but seeing it for free on DVD wasn't half as bad. There's
a lot of action in this movie, and while some of it is over the
top, the other half is quite imaginative, and therefore exciting to
watch. Lee Tamahori knows action as he proved in Die Another
Day, but here he is a little stuck on a mediocre script.
In terms of the
plot, the idea sounds pretty interesting and screenwriter Simon
Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) explores it in both good and bad
ways. Some scenes move really well, such as when xXx goes back to
the NSA underground facility, works undercover at a party attended
by officials and senators, and tracks down one of Deckert's
aircraft carriers in order to foil the Secretary's plans. A cool
action scene involves xXx escaping from the aircraft carrier in a
tank, but when he jumps off the ship and evades bullet fire by
soliders the action takes too much liberty (he's a skilled solider
himself as he demonstrated, but getting away this easily simply by
not getting hit by bullets makes him too lucky).
Ice Cube makes a
good impression in the movie in the action scenes but some of his
acting is stiff and overly serious. It also doesn't help when his
dialogue sounds cliché sometimes. Co-stars Willem Dafoe and Samuel
L. Jackson do their best with their roles, but Dafoe is
underwritten as most bad guys are. Scott Speedman is likeable as
the NSA agent who assists xXx late in the movie. The special
effects in the movie look pretty good but you'll notice them
easily. Cinematography by David Tattersall and production design
by Gavin Bocquet are very good, and Marco Beltrami's score is
familiar yet works well for the action scenes.
THE VIDEO
Sony presents
XXX: State of the Union in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. A
very good presentation with great, vivid colors, and good
definition and detail. Black levels and dark tones look good, and
the picture looks sharp most of the time. Some edge enhancement is
present, as well grain in several scenes, but it doesn't distract
too much. Optional subtitles
include English and French.
THE AUDIO
Sony presents
XXX: State of the Union in English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.
Dialogue sounds clear and is easy to understand. The music, score and sound effects
are presented very well through a nice surround experience with
the rear speakers sounding off nicely. A French 2.0 dub track is also
available.
THE EXTRAS
There is audio
commentary on the movie with director Lee Tamahori and
screenwriter Simon Kinberg, and a second track with visual
effects supervisor Scott Farrar and the CG supervisor.
From Hero to
Convict: The Making of XXX: State of the Union
features interviews with Lee Tamahori, producer Arne L. Schmidt, Simon
Kinberg, Willem Dafoe, Ice Cube, Samuel L. Jackson, Scott Speedman,
Sunny Mabrey, and Xibit, and is presented in two parts: Boot Camp
(21:20) recalls the project history briefly and continues to making
the movie with plenty of on-set footage and interviews. Special Ops
(27:26) features interviews with the movie’s two technical advisors
and focuses on getting the details right in terms of the military
aspect and fight training for the actors, showing the progression of
special effects sequences with interviews from several SFX people,
discussing the sound effects, and showing the recording of the movie’s
score.
Next are three
featurettes. Bullet Train Breakdown (5:40) is just what it says; choose among three different views
of production from storyboards, pre-visualization, and actual filming
of the sequence (with green screen in the background cut to the
movie’s score). Top Secret Military Warehouse (8:33)
discusses the military weapons and gadgets features in the movie, and
the look of the special ops costumes. XXX: According to Ice Cube
(5:25) focuses on Ice Cube in the movie.
Lastly there are
3 deleted scenes running approximately three minutes. Only one of
them is partially interesting, a scene with the President and Willem
Dafoe’s character discussing a situation in front of the Lincoln monument.
Several trailers
round out the extras.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This is not a bad
movie, just a terribly mediocre action flick with a few standout
action scenes and a good idea that is explored through a
screenplay marred by slow scenes, some weak dialogue, and
limitations of being a sequel and not an original movie. I am
recommending this DVD solely on the fact that the extras are quite
good and partially on the excitement of seeing the action scenes
in the movie. If you don't get your hopes up you could enjoy this
movie on a mediocre level like I did.
