State of the Union Cloudy for Action Sequel

When the XXX headquarters is attacked by a rogue group of radical covert military operatives, stalwart National Security Agency (NSA) agent Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson, Coach Carter) and electronics expert Toby Lee Shavers (Michael Roof, Black Hawk Down) find themselves the only ones to escape. Knowing they need someone to launch an investigation, someone from the outside but with knowledge of the defense department and military procedure, Gibbons turns to convict Darius Stone (Barbershop).

Breaking him out of prison, Stone is given free reign to try and figure out why Secretary of Defense George Octavius Deckert (Willem Dafoe, The Shadow of the Vampire), the man responsible for Darius’ imprisonment and Gibbons former Gulf War commander, suddenly seems to want the two of them dead. What he finds is a conspiracy that leads all the way into the Oval Office, Deckert and his men appearing to be planning a military coup that will take the maniacal warmonger straight to the Presidency. Now, with the help of old pals Zeke (rapper Xzibit) and Lola Jackson (Nona M. Gaye, next week’s Crash), as well as the assistance of by-the-book NSA agent Kyle Steele (Scott Speedman, Underworld), Stone is going to take the fight straight to Deckert’s gut, hopefully saving the President (Peter Strauss, Nick of Time) and maintaining democracy in the process.

Thus begins the silly, over-the-top B-action movie spectacular XXX: State of the Union. A sequel to the 2002 original starring Vin Diesel (whose absence is explained away in one sentence) and directed by Rob Cohen (who remains as a producer), new director Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day) tries valiantly to ground this new adventure in modern day realities but still keep the tongue-in-cheek surrealism that helped make the muscular original a surprise box office smash. Unfortunately, he can’t do it, the film completely derailed by a final twenty minutes aboard a speeding presidential bullet train that’s so insipidly awful any good will I was feeling towards the movie quickly dissipated.

The surprising thing about it all is, I was actually feeling a great deal of good will towards State of the Union. Writer Simon Kinberg’s (the upcoming Mr. and Mrs. Smith) script is smooth and with nary a speed bump, while Tamahori directs effortlessly and with a kinetic enthusiasm the first film sorely lacked. It isn’t rocket science, but taken on its own comic book James Bond-ian terms this sequel can be a heck of a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t last, Kinberg running out of ideas at about the halfway point and Tamahori resorting to making his picture look and act more like a particularly stylish video game than a major motion picture. And while I’m not about to claim any facet of this feature has more brain cells than a bimbo looking for her next blonde joke, it’s never obnoxious in its dimwittedness until that noxiously calamitous final.

Too bad, because Cube is an inspired choice as the new XXX. For the first time since Three Kings, Cube appears to be completely enmeshed into an action character, having fun with both his fellow costars and the audience as he jukes and jives his way across the screen. More than just a tough guy, Cube seems to realize that this is all nothing more than a ludicrously asinine tongue-in-cheek adventure, the actor more than willing to play Stone as broadly and as cartoonishly as Tamahori will let him. I admit many things about this sequel terrified me (not the least of which was the fact I completely loathed the first film), none more so than the thought of the sometimes posturing gansta’ rapper in the lead role. But I was wrong, Cube is perfect, and my only real wish is that the movie could have used him and his giddily gleeful talents better.

The rest of the cast does what they can. Xzibit and Gaye each have a moment or two where they get to shine, while Sunny Mabrey (Species III) saunters across the screen seductively as a Senator’s aid who may want more to do with Stone than to just get in his pants. In a bigger role this time around, Jackson appears to be having the time of his laugh firing off rocket launchers and barking out orders like he was Sgt. Rock getting ready to lead his men to the top of Iwo Jima. He’s a hoot, and the movie can’t help but loose much of its life when he disappears for the majority of the midsection. Only Dafoe is completely wasted, the talented actor left hung out to dry by both the script and his director. Sure he glowers well, but so what? Deckert isn’t remotely frightening, and his ultimate plan has so many holes and unforeseen hang-ups General Patton could have driven a Sherman Tank through the center of it with enough room to spare to fit an entire platoon of grunts. What more, Dafoe looks bored, phoning in his villainous appearance here nearly the same way he did back in another ill-gotten sequel, 1997’s Speed 2.

Still, I could have given State of the Union a pass had the climax not hit the earth with such a resounding thud. Idiotic, chaotic and devoid of any of the charm present in the first two thirds, the movie takes a turn into Van Helsing territory in its usage of CGI effects and the result is catastrophic. Worse, Tamahori and company take it all completely seriously, grabbing their tongue out of cheek and asking the audience to suddenly accept this live action cartoon at face value. It’s impossible, especially when nothing on the screen can even remotely pass for realistic. By the end, the whole thing is like watching someone else play a graphically intricate video game on a large screen TV. Unfortunately, with all their intricately laced plotlines and technical wonderment, watching someone playing a video game would have actually been a heck of lot more entertaining than watching XXX fall on its G-rated behind.

Film Rating: êê  (out of 4)