You’ll need xXx-tra popcorn
XXX: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE Running time: 1hr47 min Starring: Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Kris Wu, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, Rory McCann, Toni Collette, Samuel L Jackson, Hermione Corfield,Tony Gonzalez, Michael Bisping Director: DJ Caruso NOT that anyone was clamouring for it, but Vin Diesel has returned to his role as an extreme sports-loving secret agent who saves the world in the very belated third instalment of the xXx franchise he abandoned after the first film (Ice Cube took over in the far less successful sequel).
Fulfilling the mandate, the beefy Diesel makes xXx: Return of Xander Cage a reasonably entertaining popcorn movie experience.
Actually, popcorn alone wouldn’t suffice for the film’s non-stop barrage of high-octane action sequences that make you feel like you’re burning calories simply watching them. This is a pic that demands the accompaniment of nachos, hot dogs and soda as well.
To its credit, the film, directed by DJ Caruso (Disturbia, Eagle Eye), definitely has its tongue not only in its cheek, but practically rammed down its throat. It begins with an amusing sequence in which Xander’s former boss Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L Jackson) attempts to recruit real-life Brazilian footballer Neymar, only to be killed by the explosion of a fallen satellite soon afterwards.
It turns out that the satellite has been brought down by a device known as Pandora’s Box. And the only one who can retrieve it, naturally, is Xander Cage, despite the fact that he’s dead, or, at least, starring in the Fast and Furious movies.
Xander is actually hanging out in the Dominican Republic. He’s brought back into action by icy CIA operative Jane Marke (Toni Collette), who offers him a back-up team of hard-boiled military types. Xander responds by ejecting them from the back of a plane. Instead, he puts together his own group, which seems to have been assembled for maximum international box-office appeal.
There’s another crew of bad-asses who at first seem like villains before forming an alliance with Xander’s gang.
The bare-bones plot is merely an excuse for the action set-pieces, which also include Xander chasing down a bad guy by surfing on a motorbike (don’t ask). It all comes across like a montage of the opening sequences of James Bond movies, but the net effect is more numbing than exhilarating. And while there may indeed be impressive stunt work (augmented by voluminous CGI effects), the impact is diluted through overkill.
Other than the voluminous tattoos, anyone would be hard-pressed to notice any difference between Diesel’s Xander Cage and Dominic Toretto characters, except the former is styled as being irresistible to every woman that crosses his path. More adept at the role’s physical than verbal demands, the actor is an engaging, muscle-bound presence, but the way his franchise-heavy career is going, he seems to be auditioning for a future gig as a Celebrity Apprentice host.
He’s certainly outclassed here. – Hollywood Reporter