xXx: State of the Union

XXX: State Of The Union was a great action movie. I do not think it was as good as the first but still, very good. This movie was full of awesome action sequences. Some would say implausible but what action movie is realistic? I also kind of got the vibe that the producers of this movie were a bit mad at Vin Diesel but all that could be just part of the storyline, which I like. I guess the XXX will always be someone new, even more the opposite of James Bond.

Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) seems to be the main recurring character. We learn a little bit about his past, his scarred face in particular. He chooses an old military acquaintance named Darius Stone (Ice Cube) as the new, badder and meaner XXX. This time, they have to stop an evil Secretary of Defense, Gen. George Octavius Deckert (Willem Dafoe) from having all those in the chain of command above him assassinated. As Stone says, "the cleanest revolution in history". I kept expecting The Green Goblin to emerge somewhere. I guess there is a similarity between his two characters.

XXX boasts some of the greatest action scenes I have had the pleasure of seeing. The tank fight on the aircraft carrier was simply awesome. Sure, I understand this probably could not and will not ever come close to happening, but it is still fun to watch. No one in their right mind could argue that.

I knew well ahead of time that many, many people would put this movie down, much of them without even seeing it. While I do think that it does not have the same rebellious feel as the first XXX, it was a great movie in it's own right. Highly recommended if you liked the first one. If you did not, then why are you bothering?

Unnecessary sequel about ex-Navy SEAL-turned-imprisoned convict Darius Stone (Cube)—court-martialed years earlier for attempting to overthrow a four-star general (Dafoe) during a black bag operation—who's recruited by NSA agent Jackson to become the new XXX and thwart that same general—now the Secretary of Defense with his own agenda. Obvious and by the numbers the film manages to throw out enough loud action scenes and cheesy one-liners to be some fun, but it's awfully derivative and fails to distinguish itself from the standard action genre. Works fine if you're just looking for a rush, and can accept a hackneyed plot with a cardboard Cube in the lead. **

Notice how cool it has become to say "I want those two hours of my life back!!" after having seen a really bad movie? Well, only stupid people use that line. You know what you're going into, folks! If you really wanted those two hours (not to mention your money) back, might you not have shown a bit of critical sense before deciding to watch something you *knew* probably would have no redeeming values? Sigh. Well, your life, your problem.

xXx2 was not a great movie, nor even a good one, but I went into it with the expectations of something really terrible, and it wasn't that bad at all. It was pretty much as good as I could have dared hope for. A lot of people knock the original movie, but I think it's a cult classic, worthy of an 8 rating. I had no illusions that the sequel would touch that level, and indeed it did not. For one thing, Ice Cube is nowhere near as cool as Vin Diesel.

But the whole anti-authority thing saves it. I don't know about you, but I think it's a hoot to see a bunch of street-wise Black hustlers hijack a tank and blow the lid off the white house to save a President who's probably far more liberal than any president the U.S. has ever had. This is what art and entertainment is for, people. Progressive messages, to show us that a better way is possible. This movie had heart. And it had the only true kind of patriotism: the anti-fanatic kind.

And the action and SFX, while frequently silly, did what they were supposed to: entertain.

5 out of 10.

Action without brains is actually a genre i have nothing against. As long as the action sequences are well made that is. "xXx: State of the Union" is a fair try in the genre but ultimately falls short.

The plot is as ridiculous as in the first movie. The NSA-agent Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) is once again looking in weird places trying to find a new agent that can break the rules and succeed. This time he finds Darius Stone (Ice Cube) in a military prison. Stone is an ex Navy Seal who will help Gibbons fight off a rogue part of the US Military trying to dispose of the president.

Seriously, no one watches these movies for the plot anyway. So that the plot is ridiculous and cheesy is beside the point. No one watches this for the acting either. So that Ice Cube is not as much an actor as a walking scowl is ALSO beside the point. He does about as good a job as Vin Diesel did anyway. What is NOT beside the point though is the fact that "xXx: State of the Union" employs the same method of action filming as many other Hollywood-movies of late. You know the method: "move the camera exceptionally close and shake it like if the camera-man was a spastic". I know that this is to hide the fact that Ice Cube doesn't know how to fight. Still it's incredibly irritating! Also the lack of logic is too evident at times. Like Ice Cube driving a sports car 360km/h on a train track with his tires torn off... Seriously.

Otherwise this had some potential. The technical quality is great, the movie looks really expensive. It has a lot of fun gadgets and crappy one-liners. And the speed of this movie is absolutely insane. Right from the beginning Lee Tamahori steps on it without ever looking back. So even though i can't say i really enjoyed this movie it was never boring, there is always something happening on screen. But the flaws in mostly the action department as well as the complete lack of logic disturbs the experience. It's still a lot better than the first movie though. I found the first one to be complete garbage, while this is still at least somewhat entertaining at times.

So in the end i think this "James Bond on steroids" will probably attract a lot of 15-yearolds that like when things keep moving and lights keep flashing. People who like to see a plot and at least some traces of logic might want to stay away though. It could have been the brainless action movie of the year, but it desperately needs some better action-directing for that. I rate it 3/10.

Saw a screening of it today,...and probably wished I didn't agree to watch it,.. Anyways, I don't even know where to begin so here goes: Plot/action: The usual cliché plot line that involves government agency coverups, bad blood, and conspiracies to kill the President. I thought the first 'XXX' was OK, but the plot of 'XXX2' is so unoriginal and narrow-minded it makes the first one seem like an epic. The action and stunts aren't even imaginative,.. seems like even money can't buy a good movie because even the fight scenes are uninspiring,..kind of reminds me of Steven Seagal movies where you're even hoping that the main character gets his ass kicked Characters: Ice Cube playing his usual badass self, although the release of this movie is in such close proximity to 'are we there yet?' that it almost seems like him and Vin Diesel (The Pacifier) have teamed up secretly to harm America with such bad movies. Overall, I think that Ice Cube's character lacks the edge of Vin Diesel in the first installment. The other characters in this movie including the main badguy (Willem Dafoe) are cardboard thin leading you to wonder as the movie goes along if the plot development will be just as bad.

Overall Entertainment Value: 4/10,..I feel that the movie would have been better if they eased up on the whole government agency conspiracy aspect and focused more on stunts, which made the first one much more easy to watch