XXX (film series)

XXX (pronounced as Triple X and stylized xXx) is an American action film series created by Rich Wilkes. The series consists of three films XXX (2002), XXX: State of the Union (2005) and XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017).

Films

XXX (2002)

The film was released on 9 August 2002, which stars Vin Diesel as Xander Cage, a thrill seeking extreme sports enthusiast, stuntman and rebellious athlete-turned-reluctant spy for the National Security Agency who is sent on a dangerous mission to infiltrate a group of potential Russian terrorists in Central Europe. XXX also stars Asia Argento, Samuel L. Jackson, and Marton Csokas. Cohen previously directed The Fast and the Furious, in which Diesel also starred.

XXX: State of the Union (2005)

The film was released on 29 April 2005, which stars Ice Cube as Darius Stone, a new agent in the XXX program, who is sent to Washington, DC to defuse a power struggle amongst national leaders.

XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017)

The third film, set for release on 20 January 2017 in the United States, sees the return of Vin Diesel as Xander Cage who comes out of self-imposed exile, thought to be long dead, and is set on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora’s Box. Recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments.^[3]

Short Film

The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage

In addition to the deleted scenes on the Director's Cut of XXX, the DVD also contains an extra video titled The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage, a four-minute short film that attempts to tie up some loose ends about the Xander Cage character by showing his gory demise.

In the short film, Cage is played by Vin Diesel's stunt double Khristian Lupo (who never shows his face or speaks) while reusing some archival lines spoken by Vin Diesel. It also features Leila Arcieri as Jordan King from the first film, and John G. Connolly as Lt. Colonel Alabama "Bama" Cobb, one of the villains from the sequel XXX: State of the Union, as the man behind the attack on Cage.

Cast

Crew

Reception

Box Office Performance

Critical and public response

The first film was received by mixed reviews from critics. Roger Ebert called it "as good as a James Bond movie".^[12] Adam Smith of Empire Online called the movie, "Sporadically entertaining, but seriously hampered by a very choppy screenplay", and rating it three out of five stars.^[13] The film was nominated for a Razzie Award for Most Flatulent Teen-Targeted Movie, but lost to Jackass: The Movie.

The second film in the series was critcally panned by critics, Boo Allen of the Denton Record Chronicle called it "a chubby, surly, incomprehensible action hero".^[14] Brian Orndorf of FilmJerk.com compared watching the film to running "headfirst at top speed into a brick wall".^[15] David Hiltbrand of the Philadelphia Inquirer said "the plot swings between pathetically implausible and aggressively stupid".^[16] Some critics liked the film. Mack Bates of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel praised Ice Cube's "trademark charisma and street sensibility",^[17] while Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called it "that rare B movie that’s rooted in gut-level stirrings of power and retaliation".^[18] Paul Arendt of the BBC said, "Viewed on its own trashy terms, it succeeds brilliantly".^[19]

References

External links

• XXX at the Internet Movie Database
• XXX: State of the Union at the Internet Movie Database
• XXX: Return of Xander Cage at the Internet Movie Database