Los Angeles Times

Muscling out Vin Diesel

The action star is in the middle of the action, but Donnie Yen steals the show

- By Katie Walsh

Film scholar Tom Gunning coined the phrase “cinema of attraction­s” to describe the earliest, exhibition­ist impulses of filmmaking, bits of spectacle that called attention to their own visibility and technologi­cal craft. Pure spectacle has since been subsumed into narrative filmmaking, but the cinema of attraction­s is always present, especially in modern action movies, and there may be no greater current example of this than “xXx: Return of Xander Cage.”

Though there have been three films in the series, star Vin Diesel skipped out on the second installmen­t. He’s back, turning the movie into a Vin Diesel film, which is a genre unto itself. D.J. Caruso is the director; Diesel the auteur. He’s hit on a formula that just works for him: muscles, babes and feats of vehicular derring-do performed alongside a mix of diverse global superstars.

For “xXx,” Diesel is surrounded by the current king of Hong Kong action cinema, “Rogue One’s” Donnie Yen; Thai martial arts star Tony Jaa, known for the “Ong-Bak” franchise; as well as Bollywood superstar Deepika Padukone; Aussie model-TV personalit­y Ruby Rose; Chinese singer-actor Kris Wu; (take a breath) British UFC champ Michael Bisping; “Game of Thrones” favorite Rory McCann; and Brazilian soccer phenom Neymar. Even the incredible Toni Collette turns up for crying out loud (she’s fantastic). With this cast, Xander Cage is the least interestin­g person on-screen.

The story is, as Collette’s cutthroat CIA operative Jane Markeputs it, “very bad guys, very bad thing.” Marke coaxes former special ops agent Xander Cage (Diesel) out of retirement to pursue bandits who have stolen a ” device with the capability of dropping satellites out of orbit, making them crash into the earth like bombs. He’s a member of the “xXx Program,” helmed by Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson, always wrangling groups of heroes), and catching these bandits requires his singular skill.

The script by F. Scott Frazier is sparse and self-reflective about its formula. The punchlines are mostly silly, sometimes funny, but when Xander starts opining about extreme stunts, it tips over into unintentio­nally hilarious territory.

Cage assembles an equally offbeat band of misfits for his team: a driver (McCann), a sniper (Rose) and for some inane reason, a DJ/party boy (Wu) whose only skill is to drop sick beats. Fortunatel­y, one mission is at a beach rave.

The charismati­c Rose brings the sex appeal, delivering snarky one-liners and sniping bad guys, and her presence is refreshing. But “xXx’s” negotiatio­ns of gender and sexuality are complicate­d at best. Rose, Padukone and Collette play empowered, fierce women, equals to their male counterpar­ts. The film even passes the Bechdel test. But that progressiv­e streak bumps up against the hormonal teenage boy instincts that the film can’t shake, the camera repeatedly scanning female torsos and Xander grunting lascivious words of seduction. It’s cheesy and not sexy; in “xXx,” the stunts eclipse the sex.

The appeal of this film lies in its outlandish action, innovative stunt spectacle to the extreme, defying all laws of nature, physics and logic. Xander skis through a jungle and catches waves on an ocean-going motorbike. He dives headfirst out of a cargo plane. But despite Diesel’s best efforts, wushu master Yen swipes this movie right out from under his prodigious pecs. If watching Donnie Yen get barreled on a surf-bike is wrong, to hell with being right.

Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic. calendar@latimes.com

 ?? George Kraychyk Paramount Pictures / Revolution Studios ?? VIN DIESEL stars as Xander Cage, a former special ops agent who is coaxed out of retirement to pursue a deadly group of bandits.
George Kraychyk Paramount Pictures / Revolution Studios VIN DIESEL stars as Xander Cage, a former special ops agent who is coaxed out of retirement to pursue a deadly group of bandits.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States