by Monica Hayes
Despite being a primary part of one of Hollywood’s most successful franchises in The Fast and Furious series, star and producer Vin Diesel is one to never miss an opportunity to pad his bank account or revisit past action trilogies, with the film XXX: Return of Xander Cage.
After 15 years, Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) is back for more XXX action. The last time we see Cage, he was relaxing with Yelena (Asia Argento) in Bora Bora. Now, in Brazil, Cage is still up to his old tricks and trying hard not to be XXX, but that life is about to be short lived.
Halfway around the world, a satellite falls out orbit and crashes into the building where NSA Agent Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) in the midst of recruiting his next XXX, mortally injuring him. Joan Marke (Toni Collette) and the rest of the CIA top brass gather in a high-security facility, or so they thought, to discuss the device that caused the satellite to drop, called Pandora’s box. That is until Xiang (Donnie Yen) and his crew crashes the party. Enter the return of Xander Cage.
Xander recruits his own team because he is not about to have a bunch of special forces team operatives watching his back. His team consists of Adele (Ruby Rose), a sniper, Nicks(Kris Wu) the punk kid who can turn any gathering into a party with his wicked DJ skills; and Tennyson (Rory McCann )the guy who currently holds the record for most crashes, yes crashes, at 199. It’s up to them to stop Xiang and his crew and recover Pandora’s box. Enter the inevitable, yet predictable twist.
If you are a fan of the original XXX and 2005’s XXX: State of the Union with Ice Cube, you already know what to expect. The story is easy to follow, the acting is somewhat terrible, but hey, this is XXX, not Shakespeare. The film features plenty of cheeky one-liners sprinkled with some comedy. There is a lot, and I mean A LOT of over the top action sequences, including down hill skiing through a rainforest on less than one millionth of an inch of water, skateboarding off a bus, riding a dirt bike on the water like it was a motor powered set of water skis, then diving under water, coming back up and the bike still works!
Yea, that type of over the top, but it worked. Whether you are a fan or you are not, XXX: Return of Xander Cage will give you exactly what you expect if you choose to buy your ticket.
Grade B