It's fair to say it was the best XXX, not that that really matters.
How could it not be the best XXX? It's a big movie. Vin Diesel leads a team of heavy hitters. I mean, Donne Yen and Tony Jaa are in this MoFo! Sure, they're missed used.( They did a better job using Jaa in Furious 7, which once again is not saying much), but any die-hard marshal arts fan is going to get goose bumps seeing Yen and Jaa in the same room together. Although it's worth mentioning that watching Donne Yeh do his thing even at level one like he does in this movie only makes you have more respect for what he can do.
There is a plot. Something about a box that can be use to take over the world, Yadda Yadda Yadda, somehow Xander Cage is still alive to save us all. Who cares, right!? Certainly not the filmmakers. DJ Cursio seemed only to care about Cool dudes, Hot babes and blowing crap up. I can't complain, it's the bare necessities of an action film, especially of one called XXX.
I remember when I saw the first movie, a friend of mine used the word cute to describe it. Of course he met it more as an insult but I realized I like it for being cute. It was a film met for a 13 year old boy who loved his PlayStation 2, and now Vin Diesel returns in the role from the film that he starred in when he first became big (And the franchise he kinda screwed up when he got to big for his britches).
Trying to make a movie that appeals to a 13 year old with a PlayStation 4, this time, Diesel uses his star power wisely to it's full potential to get a power house ensemble cast that would totally appeal to a international market and expanding the XXX franchise in hopes that another movie will get made (At least that's what it looks like). Not as sophisticated as his attempt to revive the Riddick franchise with the 2013 film, it's more of a leave your brain at home and eat your popcorn type of thing.
So yeah, The Return of Xander Cage was cute. If you like the other XXX movies, even State of the Union (and yes look for you know who), then you'll love this movie, cause it's got all that. Even Sam Jackson who I would have never though Disney would allow to reprise his role as the other one eyed head of a spy organization looking for more heroics when choosing his agents. Plus it's got more. More action, more explosions, hotter girls, cooler guys, and as it moves from being an alternative to James Bond to an alternative to Mission: Impossible, it is a potentially good franchise to replace Underworld and Resident Evil in the dead mouth of January when both of those franchises retired this year.
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