Ugh. I was forced to see this movie since I had to screen the print before the general public. And this was at 1 AM so I wasn't too thrilled already. I was expecting to screen "Hitchhiker's" but oh well, I still got paid.

While I do admit that the action sequences are fun, the story is too farfetched and inserted so many plot devices and unnecessary characters (*cough Scott Speedman cough*) that it seemed pseudo-intellectual. And I think I actually got confused at first since the Dept. of Defense, FBI, NSA, CIA are all present and I didn't know who worked for whom. Willem Dafoe, the main villain, big surprise, plays the Sec. of Defense named Octavius (hah! Why not Norman?) Deckert and he is out to get Samuel Jackson's gang. Jackson enlists Ice Cube as the new XXX and hilarity ensues.

My gosh, this movie was REALLY LOUD. They should hand the Oscar for Best Sound to it already. The visual effects, concerning a bullet train and a sweet ride trailing it are very cartoonish to say the least. Ice Cube is okay as the new XXX but the way he speaks his dialogue sounds like he's still doing a rap video.

A solid C for me.

PS sorry for whatever incoherence this has but it's 4 AM here, chill. :wink:

A solid B. Rousing fun!

My full review can be read here, if you're that way inclined.

YAY Snrubby, you're a great reviewer! =D>

xXx: State of the Union or: Why Lee Tamahori should never make an action movie again

Let's see. He has made Die Another Day and now he has made this. Die Another Day was a very good film for the first hour, until it fell apart in the last half due to really horrible special effects and some mediocre acting. That last half is what you will get and what you can expect from xXx: State of the Union.

Let me just quickly start off with what is good in the movie and that is the first 20 minutes. The opening action sequence is pretty well done.

Next is the actors. I like all of them so it's hard even with corny dialouge (I'll get to that later) not to like them.

Here however, is the main mistake Tamahori made with this film, and the last half of DAD. That is, special effects do not make a movie. The first xXx (While not being a great movie) at least tried with their stuntwork. For instance the motorcycle chase was very impressive. Mix that with some nicely done special effects, and you get a good movie. In this film, there is not one impressive thing to look at here (Except for Sunny Maybre). The thing that stood out the most was the final action sequence of the film, which takes place in a car with Cube chasing a bullet train with the president being held hostage. I was distracted during the whole scene because it just simply looked like a well done cartoon, like the next step up from The Incredibles. In fact, there were some things in that movie that looked more real, than in this film.

So are the CGI effects really to blame for the film's failure? Yes and no. The actors do what they can with the dialouge, but most of it sounds like it came out of the first draft of a James Bond film (I love the series, but even I know the dialouge is mostly corny as hell). Ice Cube is actually pretty good here, along with Jackson and Dafoe, but they have nothing to work with.

I'm trying to think of another action movie I can compare this to, and the best I can come up with is Charlies Angels: Full Throttle, but I liked that more than this because that at least had some eye candy. I still didn't reccommend that though (C+). This is just filled with one dumb CGI sequence after the next with some filler scenes that are piss poor attempts to fill the plot here and there.

C-

My head hurts.

Under Siege 2, Speed 2, and now XXXXXX. Quite the group. XXXXXX fails on so many levels it's almost beyond comprehension. Not that XXX was a masterpiece. Far from it. But XXXXXX has managed to dumb down the action genre to an all-time low. Shame on you Lee Tamahori. You know you're in trouble when a film from 10 years ago that happens to share a similar action sequence outdoes you.

But XXXXXX isn't the worst film I've ever seen. Defecating Dwarfs II owns that title. But XXXXXX is a close 2nd.

F+ (a + for the always great Sam Jackson)

Seriously, this film was beyond camp. I work in a chop shop AND I'm skilled in warfare. Go figure.

And double-entendres have never sounded this bad.

Can I get a villainess for once who doesn't wear black leather?

Indeed, Snrub.

It's too bad the movie is doing so poorly, because I had a blast watching this one (anyone...surprised?!). It had all the characteristics I like in an action movie; fast, loud, and sweet! Ice Cube was a decent xXx, but he didn't suit the role all that well. Samuel L. Jackson was underused, so that was a wasted role. The rookie computer-nerd, Michael Roof, had twice as much screen time as Jackson. Though, he did do very well, and was pretty funny. As for the story, well, it was stupid. Of course. This movie featured some of the coolest action scenes I've ever seen in an action movie, but at the same time, some idiotic ones. The one with the car (going at 220MPH) and a bullet train was downright laughable (but kinda cool). The chicks are hot. The cars are nice. Overall, a great start off to the summer season. For me, atleast. B+

I hated this movie.. it was horrible. Ice cube should never be allowed to act of wear a wetsuit again.

i'll be seeing it in the next hour.

seeing it at 8 o'clock

I am seeing this tonight at a 9:10 showing. I will be back with a grade.

xXx: State of the Union

B+

A good action flick. It was fun and entertaining and I enjoyed it. Ice Cube was good as xXx. I hope they make a third one.

After that box-office performance...very unlikely.

the movie was pretty entertaining. but lack of story. the CGI effects are cheesy. still a fun action flick. B-

LOL!! OK this one is cheesy as hell!, horrible acting by Ice Cube and especially by Xzibit but who really gives a damn about him... some lines were dead on stupid!!, the Effects were just OK!

BUT it is highly entertaining and great action.....so ill give it a

C+

First this movie would have been much better with Vin Diesel playing xXx. But it wasn't as bad as expected. I was entertained. B-

7/10 (B-)

I liked it more than the first. It was pretty entertaining.

Dissapointing. It wasn't awesomely bad like Torque, or completely politically incorrect and savage like Bad Boys II, but some weird mix of cool, stupid, and mediocre. B-

Actually yeah not terrible. Good action flick, probably the best of the year so far in sheer fun value. Ice Cube is fine by my standards.

B+

quite stupid but you can watch it

6/10

It really isn't any worse than the original, but without the same lead actor and its massive box office bombing, it looks like it was a disaster by comparison.

Never really liked either of them.

C-

D


I thought the first film was already ridiculous, but this....oh my. First of all, I just don't buy Ice Cube as an action hero headlining this franchise. Then again, no one else does either which explains the film's utter bombing in theatres. It's not just that Cube is a bit chubby. He's just not nearly badass enough. Samuel L. Jackson is sadly even more of a stock character in this than in the first film and Xzibit...well, please just don't get me started.

In a way it is almost awesome how ridiculous the film is. It is a big budget blaxploitation flick that doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that it is one. At the end of the film African American thugs (well, most of them seem to be) are storming the White House with cars and tanks to defeat the evil white guys. It is so insane that it has to be seen to be believed.

Like in the first film, though, there's a lot of action, but NONE of it is exciting. It ranges between ridiculous, very ridiculous and just bad. I was also shocked at how bad a lot of the visual effects were. The final showdown scene involving a car, a high-speed train and a helicopter looks like the film was made on a $5 million budget in the 1990s. At least in that department the first xXx didn't disappoint. The action scenes at least looked somewhat good. In this one, they are more ridiculous, idiotic (as is the plot, fittingly) and they just look like shit. The word "shit" applies to many of the film's aspects, though. I'm not exactly sure what Lee Tamahori was aiming for, but this never ever stood a chance of becoming a successful film. It is essentially a big budget urban actioner that has been given a large budget, but done nothing with it.

xXx: State of the Union

Vin Diesel's xXx is not great, but at least it's 2 hours of fun, but xXx: State of Union is an insult to action movies. If you appeal to all demographs, you can make $142m, if you appeal solely to blacks, you make $26m. This is a racist promotion of black supremacy. It takes pleasure in making white people look dumb and uncool (Michael Roof) and it prides itself in making black people look like our saviours. Ironically, all of the black people in this are illiterate fools, especially Ice Cube and Xzibit. The soundtrack is 100% black rap. Everyone is black, even the two drivers of a truck full of guns and cheese. It's just the shittest movie one will ever see.

It has the worst script I have ever seen with some of the worst pieces of dialogue in film history, most notably; "you not going nowhere", "there's no such thing as a dead-end" and "stop shooting black people" (in reference to the NRA). Some how a computer geek can hack into the US intelligence agency within about 15 minutes too. There's tanks in this that can dodge missiles multiple times and the plot is fucking idiotic. The woman that sets up xXx should have just left him in the alley to be caught by the cops closing in on him, yet she rescues him then tries to set him up about 20 minutes later in a house where he's given ammunition and multiple escape routes. Oh, and there's also a scene where xXx takes a car onto a train track and burns the tires COMPLETELY off and just uses the rims to drive on the track - it's laughable and lowest common denominator trash. Ice Cube is just a fat boy that can't fight for shit, I have no idea why they used him. He's a "chubby, surly, incomprehensible action hero", quoted from Boo Allen's article in the Denton Record Chronicle. It's so true.

Everyone involved in making this should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

F

I'm surprised...despite having seven "F" grades in the poll, I'm the first to give it an "F" review. I also cannot believe some of the grades here; zingy gave it a "B+" (the same grade he gave to The Terminator), as did Spidey, and thompsoncory gave it "7/10". This is madness!!

I think perhaps they took pleasure in going against the tide of negative reviews at the time of release because there's no way they could genuinely believe that this was "B+" material.

My 15-year-old self thought it was fun. And I found Sunny Mabrey incredibly hot.