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Preview by Jack Foley |
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IT SEEMS everybody wants to be James Bond nowadays. No sooner has Ben Affleck
finished saving the world from nuclear fall-out, and Matt Damon has re-discovered
his identity, then along comes another 007-wannabe, this time played by Vin
(The Fast and the Furious) Diesel.
xXx, aka Xander Cage, sets its stall out from the start, to out-Bond 007.
Yet for all of its Box Office pulling power (and the movie has helped its
distributor, Columbia Tristar, break records this year), critics may have
been shaken by the stunts on show, but they haven't exactly been stirred into
writing good reviews (see below).
Director Rob Cohen believes xXx, which co-stars Samuel L Jackson, has given
birth to a new breed of action hero - a testosterone-fuelled, adrenalin-junkie
who really doesn't want to save the world. Or, as Diesel himself puts it,
'he's a nihilist recruited to save the world'.
All this makes for extremely good fun in the action stakes, and certainly
builds on Diesel's emerging reputation as an anti-hero (witness, also, his
turn in Pitch Black), while also guaranteeing the character his own franchise
(a sequel has already been commissioned).
So what can we expect? Well, the stunts include a snowboarding sequence, death-defying
leaps from cars and planes, a motorcycle chase sequence... you name it. xXx
is clearly intended, from its trailer alone, to appeal to the surfer/boarding
types, giving them a quick fix of adrenalin-rush cinema without ever really
providing much to chew on.
For Diesel, the challenge of taking on the role of Cage lay in the fact that
this was a guy who is solely concerned with his own thrill-seeking endeavours.
He is not political, and he doesn't care about making the right sort of impression.
His mission is just another excuse to indulge in his passion for all things
extreme.
In order to prepare for the physical challenges of taking on the role, however,
Diesel had to undergo months of preparation, including motocross training,
snowboard training, ski climbing, Navy SEAL training, and something he describes
as the extreme sports version of weightlifting for three months.
The chance to work alongside Samuel L Jackson also came as a bonus, while
the actor confesses to having formed an excellent working relationship with
director Cohen.
And as for the franchise? Diesel went into the project expecting it to create
one. He says he had to choose between xXx and The Fast and the Furious sequel,
but felt that the latter did not lend itself to becoming a franchise. xXx,
however, was a different matter and he is clearly looking forward to returning
to the role - as are audiences, judging by their reaction to it in America,
where the movie has so far made a cool £131 million.
Prior to that, however, the busy actor is licking his lips at the prospect
of playing Hannibal, while also returning to the role of Riddick, his Pitch
Black character, for David Twohy's eagerly-anticipated follow-up, Chronicles
With Riddick.
xXx opens in UK cinemas on October 17.
What the US critics thought:
The
positive reviews for xXx were few and far between, with even the glowing reviews
finding something to complain about. E! Online led the way by stating that
the movie 'delivers the thrills - even if Diesel can't deliver his lines to
save his life', while Salon described it as 'brash, chaotic and jostlingly
entertaining'.
Of a more mixed nature was the LA Weekly, which said that xXx 'gives good
action (amid more tired spy business) but comes riddled with contradictions',
while the New York Post described it as 'pumped-up, dumbed-down Bond, with
tattoos instead of brains' and awarded it two stars out of four.
The New York Times appears to have tapped into its target audience, by declaring
that it is 'guaranteed to coax delirious oohs and ahhs from the PlayStation
crowd', while Slant Magazine said that it was 'more expertly-made trash from
director Rob Cohen'.
However, more vitriolic were the likes of Entertainment Weekly, which urged
viewers to 'run, run for your lives' and awarded it a D. The Boston Phoenix
said that the movie is 'a sometimes jaw-dropping, mostly eye-numbing exercise
in explosions and high-speed chases', while People wrote it off as being 'more
like Zzz'.
Reel Views said that xXx was 'proof positive that it's easier to fail than
succeed with the James Bond formula', while Reel.com felt that it 'doesn't
live up to the hype'.
The Chicago Tribute gets the last word, however, describing it as 'pre-sold
and critic proof', obviously guessing that the movie would find a massive
audience no matter what was written about it.
It seems, critically, James Bond can still sleep easy at night (or at least
until Die Another Day arrives in November),
but in terms of Box Office, the world may not be big enough for two super-spies.
xXx has laid down the gauntlet, can 007 now match him?
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