Hey folks, Harry here with a review of one of the flicks I'm most looking forward to seeing that is left unseen this summer thus far. I am talking about 'xXx'! Vin Diesel has an incredible heaping load of charisma on screen, and watching him go at the spy game in a hardcore reinvention of the spy for the 21st century... Well, it could be massively cool, and from the report our Chatroom regular... DR STRANGELOVE sent in... it looks as if the movie delivers exactly what it promises!
Hey Harry, Dr.Strangelove here,
Just saw XXX and man, the movie is just fantastic, I expected much less but I ended up seeing the most "pure fun" movie of the year. I liked The Fast and the Furious, I always thought Vin Diesel was kinda ok, but after seeing this VIN Diesel is a revelation, the leading man of the 21st century, in XXX he has incredible charisma, virtually the entire movie TREMORS from his massive on screen presence and the fantastic stunts Rob Cohen has conceived, and to all of you who liked The Fast and the Furious, the former seems like a little teaser trailer to XXX. This movie maybe isn't the most "intellectually" engaging but it sure brings to mind a great Gladiator quote "Are you not entertained" and pure, action packed entertainment is what this movie is about and lots of it at that, more and better than in any recent flick I can remember. This movie puts to shame the latest Bond sequels and just shows how that franchise has lost the pulse of new generations, XXX is Dr.No of certainly a new "Bond Sized" franchise, its refreshing and engaging, it kicks you outta your seat and makes you wish you were Vin Diesel, I have no doubt this movie is gonna have a massive following.
From the opening sequence you know you're in for "something completely different", the music is fantastic and the cinematography is great, though both are not over-stated and thus not annoying like in some recent action moves that try so much to be cool. Unlike the action heroes of yesterday Diesel plays Xander "X" Cage as a thrill seeking, likable X sports legend with a real human, anti-heroic side with whom we can all associate to. After all at the beginning he's just a regular guy who doesn't want to get involved with all the spy stuff, and the movies of the past Xander changes through the course of the movie, yes there is character development in an action movie. And unlike Bond all the on-screen goings have a deep impact on our hero.
The other great thing, and certainly a big break in this movie is a little known New Zealand actor Marton Csokas who some of you maybe know from his fantastic work playing a Croatian refugee Darko in a great little New Zealand movie "Broken English", but I'm pretty sure more of you recognize him from his work as a semi regular in Xena the warrior princess. Csokas does great work with the sketch of a character the script gives him, he builds "Yorgi" up into a believable and charismatic bad guy. Some people are calling him the new Russell Crowe, but he's more like in vein of Guy Pierce.
Other noteworthy appearance is that of Sam L Jackson who gives his NSA Agent Gibbons certain death, legitimacy and intensity like only he can. Asia Argento is also in, she looks good, but not as great as I know she can, but based on his prior work I feel there was a deliberate choice on Cohen's part to make her and others less statuesque and more naturalistic, still she delivers a fun performance and is generally awesomely sexy. ( to see what I'm talking about, see how Cohen masterfully avoided at certain times inappropriate statuesque shoots of Jordana Brewster and Paul Walker in F&F, in favor of more naturalistic look and expressions. Great work Rob, it's the attention to such little stuff that makes up a good movie). I hope this finally gets Az lots of much needed and well deserved massive USA exposure she's been missing out for some time. She's one of the most interesting and talented chicks in movies today.
But no matter how good they play or how good they look, the supporting roles are just nothing but "pretty" scenery for Diesel, the real star of this movie, because its Diesel and his charisma, his persona that injects massive amounts of dynamics into this movie, its action, its story and makes it all work. And WORK it does. Cohen shows a great sense for movement and action, unlike most recent action movies and like F&F there's little disorientation in the action and none of that excess shakycam stuff, still the editing is explosive and adds with the music, Diesel and the stunts to make XXX a movie fun like few others. There's all kinds of crafts, cool cars, submarines that adds to the overall coolness and shows that this baby cost 90 million $. Locations are all top notch recalling some of the best from Bond and Mission Impossible, Prague is indeed a wonderful place to shoot. To sum it up, great visuals, great production values.
You may have noticed that I've barely touched on the story and the script, why ? Well because in a movie like this script really serves little purpose, its Vin saves the world, there's lots of really funny humor, some bond and other spy spoofs, some nice character development,... But lets make it clear, this is no Road to Perdition script wise, nor a "realistic portrayal" of spycraft at the beginning of the 21st century, Its something WAY much more fun, its Bond, but not you'r grand daddy's bond of the 60's ,"X" is a man in tune with times. I feel "X" and with him Diesel will be the first icons of the 21st century. This movie is all about Vin and excess action and what more can we want. There's cool action, hot babes, amazing stunts and the "guy we all want be as cool" for guys, and there's Vin and Vin's "guns" for the chicks.
What can I say, is this a good movie? Way yes !... Some can say its mindless, excess, pure action, blah this and blah that... but in the end is it entertaining? YES!... So I'm gonna finish with something our hero would probably say "Bored, wanna be entertained,...WANNA BE ENTERTAINED.. oh, Shut up man, go see XXX".
Wanna comment?.. troll me to hell ? send me your reaction , I'd be happy to reply.
Dr. Strangelove
