More wow-worthy than an afternoon at the X-Games, more feebly-scripted than a gunfire-filled X-Box action game rated "M" for mature, XXX is cool, cool, cool until director Rob Cohen gets to the last act and has to make room between stunts to resolve the knuckleheaded plot. Billed as a tattooed, testosterone-injected, street-smart, 21st century usurper to James Bond's explosions-and-espionage glory, star Vin Diesel (from Cohen's The Fast and the Furious)--Hollywood's fastest-rising bald-and-bulging bad-ass--plays an extreme sports daredevil and social activist hoodlum recruited by the National Security Agency to go undercover where their Bond-ish, well-bred, erudite agents can't fit in. For the first hour and a half, it's easy to suspend disbelief and watch the expensive-looking, butt-kicking stunts. Unfortunately, early thrills, groovy gadgets (X-ray binoculars!), style to burn, and Diesel-powered personality can't save the fact that XXX becomes monumentally idiotic and cliché-driven in its insultingly incompetent and self-contradictory last act. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary with director Rob Cohen; “A Filmmakers Diary, ” comprised of two featurettes: one on U.S./pre-production (15 min.), the other on Prague/post-production (25 min.); four more featurettes: “Building Speed” on elaborate transportation and vehicles (7 min.), “Designing the World of XXX” on production design (14 min.), “Diesel Powered” discussion of star Vin Diesel (7 min.) and “The GTO is Back” (basically a commercial for Pontiac); “Visual Effects How To's” for three action scenes with director commentary; 10 deleted scenes with director commentary; the music video “Adrenaline” by Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, cast and crew filmographies, and a trailer. Bottom line: boasting a wealth of extras that are usually found on double-disc sets, the DVD definitely adds value to an otherwise dumb action flick.] (R. Blackwelder)[DVD Review--May 3, 2005--Sony, 2 discs, 132 min., PG-13, $24.95--Making its second appearance on DVD, 2002's XXX: Uncensored Unrated Director's Cut has nearly all of the original special features (although it's oddly missing the deleted scenes). New DVD extras include an additional eight minutes of footage, a “Starz! On the Set” making-of featurette (14 min.), a brief sneak peek at the upcoming XXX: State of the Union sequel, an additional scene called “The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander”--which should supposedly explain why Ice Cube will be the new XXX and not Vin Diesel, but is rather silly and does not even show Diesel in the scene (4 min.), two storyboard comparisons (11 min.), a gadget presentation by Agent Shaver (4 min.), the new music video “I Will Be Heard” by Hatebreed, and an uncut version of the end credit sequence. Bottom line: released primarily to tie-in with the also poorly reviewed sequel, this latest edition of XXX is an optional purchase, at best.][Blu-ray Review—Jan. 24, 2017—Sony, 124 min., PG-13, $19.99—Making its latest appearance on Blu-ray, 2002's xXx features a nice transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. New to this release is an “Origins of a Renegade” retrospective featurette (7 min.). Extras carried over from previous releases include pre-production (15 min.) and post-production (25 min.) featurettes, deleted scenes (16 min.), a “Starz! On the Set” making-of featurette (14 min.), the production segments “Designing the World” (14 min.), “Diesel Powered” (7 min.), “Building Speed” (7 min.), and “Avalanche Scene” (6 min.), an uncut end credit sequence (4 min.), a gadget presentation (4 min.), a “Visual Effects How To's” with audio commentary by director Rob Cohen (3 min.), the music videos “Adrenaline” by Gavin Rossdale and “I Will Be Heard” by Hatebreed, and trailers. Bottom line: if you already own the earlier Blu-ray release, there's no reason to pick up this 15th anniversary edition released solely to tie in with the new theatrical sequel.]
XXX
Columbia TriStar, 123 min., PG-13, VHS: $110.99, DVD: $27.95, Dec. 31 Volume 17, Issue 6
XXX
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