xXx

Not my first time to watch this one, and probably won't by my last. It gets some bad rap from other reviews but in all honesty, this is simply another of those _"disengage your brain and just enjoy the action"_ movies. Some of the stunts are completely eyeroll-worthy but this is still fun to watch. If you're looking for an adrenaline-rush movie that is almost laughably unbelievable, this is it...but it's still a fun action movie.

I just like this movie more than the average rating. It is to me one of the best Vin Diesel movies. Sure, he is overly cool as usual, but in this movie it konda works. That what makes the character work. It is essentially a Bond-like action comedy. Cool action, decent story and good characters. Good fun entertainment.

Fast, funny and entertaining. Exactly how a action flick should be...

This movie was "rad" when it came out and hasn't aged well. Vin continues to be one of the most irritating screen actors of all time and this was one of his calling cards for that title. Action and stunts, however, remain impressive...you just wonder how much of it was actually done and how much was CGI.

"Moral of the story is, don't be a dick, Dick."

It has been so long since I've seen this one but how stupid it is, how corny etc. etc. I still had such a fun time. What also helped was having been to Prague 3 years ago and seeing places I've been to. Always love that kind of stuff.

Anyway Vin Diesel is loads of fun here and I love these one-liner: "You have a bazooka! Dude, stop thinking Prague Police and start thinking Playstation. Blow shit up!" and stuff like: "Shaken... and stirred.". All those little 007 digs and especially the wannabe Bond in the opening failing a mission during a Rammstein concert and the end credits song Adrenaline by Gavin Rossdale is one I used to listen to a lot back in my younger years. Nostalgia always works.

But yeah xXx is a 40 minute too long action fest with loads of cheese and a fun Vin Diesel and a Danny Trejo scene alongside Samuel L. Jackson who is Xander Cage's M.

Turn your brain off and just enjoy the cheesiness.

Absurd, over-the-top cliché fest that still somehow has its charm; wouldn't make it a yearly rewatch, but if I'm ever in the mood for something stupidly entertaining, this fits the bill.

It is a comedy but someone tried to make it serious ;)

This was always going to age like milk. It’s very much in love with its edgy take on James Bond, and with a director like Rob Cohen at the helm, the end results feel unsurprisingly meatheaded and juvenile. The story and characters are disposable and cliché, which is fine for what it’s trying to do. However, there’s no charm to any of the acting or dialogue, which I’d argue is pretty important if you want to make this kind of movie work. Instead, what we get is a lot try-hard cringe that feels like it’s really aiming for the early 2000s douchebag demographic. Visually it looks gross and pornographic, there’s a lot of agressive imagery that wouldn’t look out of place in some nu-metal music video from around the time. There are some really cool needle drops (like, there’s no way you’d get a Rammstein or Queens of the Stone Age song in a big movie today), but for every good one there are twice as many that feels like a Hot Topic manager screaming “plz think I’m cool”. There’s also some nice practical stuntwork, but every action sequence suffers from being overedited and going on for too long (as does the movie as a whole). All in all, you’re not missing out on anything by skipping this.

2/10

Vin Diesel is cool