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XXX is a film directed by Robert Cohen (the director of The Fast and the Furious, The Skulls, Dragonheart, and many others) and released in 2002. It is a spy thriller that plays with past films of the genre, and updates it to the Playstation playing, Mountain Dew drinking, extreme sports fan teenagers of today. Sounds like a recipe for a really horrible movie to you?
Surprisingly, the movie works. It's consistent with itself, and the stunts are great. The movie focuses on Xander Cage, alias Triple X, an underground activist who makes videos of himself sticking it to the man and doing extreme stunts at the same time, finally being "recruited" into the NSA as a new undercover agent. The stunts are to keep the kiddies watching his propaganda machine, presumably. This character is played by the truly charismatic Vin Diesel, who has a lot of fun with the role. His presence dominates this film, which is good. He elevates the movie above the mediocrity it would otherwise have been, with an average at best script, and paint by numbers storyline.
Some credit is due to the team who assembled this film, as some of the stunts are very impressive. None of them felt "CG", although many of them were clearly out of the realm of physical possibility. As Triple X goes on a typical James Bond adventure, he finds ways to work all manner of "extreme sports" into his escapades. It sounds ridiculous, but it feels very consistent with the character, and is really done in an enjoyable manner, with a good sense of humor. At one point in the film, Xavier gets asked where he learned to handle a gun. His response, (paraphrased, I don't remember the sentence exactly), was "I used to play a lot of first person shooters."
The movie is not without its flaws. The chase scenes seem slowly paced compared to the rest of the movie, which is surprising considering this is done by the director of The Fast and the Furious. Also, the sheer over the top nature of so much of the action can be a little distracting, but you came to see this movie for that, didn't you?
Aside from Vin, there are great supporting performances, such as XXX's replacement for James Bond's M, Agent Gibbons, played by the ever-cool Samuel Jackson. The love interest of this movie is played by stunningly beautiful Asia Argento, in what is I believe her first performance in a film produced in the USA. I expect we'll be seeing more of her.
Overall, I think I saw this movie summarized best elsewhere. "You get what you take into it." If you're ready for an unapologetically over the top action film, or you really enjoy Vin Diesel, this will be a very fun popcorn movie. Those seeking cerebral stimulation would best search elsewhere. The movie is as filled with cliches as this review. You have been warned!