XXX: Return of Xander Cage, directed by D. J. Caruso.
First off, I want to clarify: I saw this movie expecting a trainwreck. What I got was both pointlessly stupid and stupidy pointless. It was a cliched pile of lines and action. Yet it might have been the best movie I've seen in a long time.
To surge through this oxymoron, you have to look at some basic facts about the movie. Almost every character seemed to be playing a parody of their own role. There was literally a "that's what she said" joke in the middle. And at the end I was more than a little surprised that they didn't ride off into the sunset.
That being said, the movie was very self aware. There were little title cards for most of the characters as they first appeared with humorous little facts. And several action scenes were highlighted by comedic moments, showcasing that everyone involved (or at least most) knew what they were getting into to.
The plot was predictable and silly, but I found myself not caring. Watching Vin Diesel and Donnie Yen kick ass around the world was pretty satisfying. And while there was a little too much female fawning over Mr. Vin (and all while wearing the world's shortiest skirts like
Single Female Lawyer), the cast was actually impressively diverse both in gender and nationality.
Eye candy AND ass kicking female roles (complex movie) [2]
The action was entertaining. There was a lot of nice gunfights, some good hand to hand combat, a few nice set pieces and extreme sport-like acrobats, and enough over the top machismo to blow a hole in someone's head.
As a total movie package, if you approach this as an exciting romp with which to eat popcorn and giggle, this is a wonderful delivery mechanism. If you're looking for a deep, thoughtful, meaningful, or intelligent moviegoing experience, you should probably look elsewhere. But honestly, I think everyone knows what this movie is going to be going into it. And for what it was, it excelled with flying colors.
Until next time,
Ryan
