Title: XXX
Date: 8/20/2002
Type: Techno-Thriller
Rated: PG-13
Reviewed by: Vanessa Sibbald - Zap2it
Stars: 3(out of 5 possible)

Vin Diesel takes on the spy genre in "XXX" in an effort to become the James Bond for the 21st century -- think daring instead of debonair, rap and punk instead of '50s lounge or '80s pop and Red Bulls instead of shaken Martinis. The film's title, pronounced "triple X," makes it clear -- it's 007 taken to the X-treme.
At a time when Ben Affleck or Matt Damon's soft and sensitive versions of the spy hero are all the rage in Hollywood, it's refreshing that someone understands the need for the bad boy. Diesel, with his brawny frame and cool, composed delivery, fits the bill perfectly. A fitting new antihero for his time, the actor's mixed ethnicity and lurking aggressiveness help give him a sexy edge, which is what fans (at least the female ones) have always yearned for in their movie spies.

While the film doesn't quite follow through with the extreme sports version of Bond that it promises -- the best stunts are all shown in the movie's promotional ads and, in truth, don't top the best Bond stunts -- there's no denying that the movie is lots of fun, and will therefore likely hit it big with the summer moviegoers looking for a little air-conditioned escape from the real world.

Diesel stars as Xander Cage, a tattooed (he has "XXX" scrawled on his neck, where the film's name is taken from), extreme sports enthusiast with a healthy dose of disregard for authority. It's this trait of his that has led him to NSA agent Augustus Gibbons (played by Samuel L. Jackson in a gloriously campy performance), who desperately needs a new breed of secret agent in order to penetrate his latest foe -- a group of anarchist Russian criminals who plan to create a new world order by secretly wiping out the world's top cities with a quick-acting poisonous gas. Like in "The Sum of All Fears," the terrorist group, led by Yorgi (Australian actor Martin Csokas), hope that the world's major powers will blame each other for the attacks, leading to all all-out nuclear war that will eventually cause them to wipe each other out.

Like any good James Bond flick, there's a few plot points that fail to make sense, but that shouldn't stop the audience from enjoying the cool stunts, the plethora of women and the cool gadgets (including binoculars that can see through walls).

Director Rob Cohen makes the unfortunate choice of speeding up Diesel's delivery, which like Samson's hair, seems to be the secret to his power on the big screen. Yet, he makes up for it by casting the sharp and beautiful Asia Argento and giving her Yelena enough attitude to compete with his star. While Diesel's one liners fall a little flat, the scene where Xander and Yelena verbally spar upon first meeting each other is so good it could have lasted the whole two hours and no one would have budged from their seats.

Cohen and crew are already working on a sequel to the film and let's just hope next time they'll take it to the next level and really get extreme, giving Bond a good run for its stunts. (While the avalanche stunt in "XXX" is certainly a technological marvel, the CGI is fairly apparent, calling into question its believability.) The sequel should also improve from needed less set up time, hopefully giving Diesel -- and hopefully a returning Argento -- more time to dish out the attitude.