Director: DJ Caruso
Notable Cast: Vin
Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Kris Wu, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, Nina
Dobrev, Toni Collette, Samuel L Jackson, Nicky Jam, Rory McCann, Michael Bisping, Ariadna
Gutierrez, Hermione Corfield, Tony Gonzalez, Neymar Jr.
Fifteen years is a long time. In the grand spectrum of
things it’s not a super long time, but for a franchise like xXx, it’s long enough to create a James
Bond meets X-games knock off, lose your key star who refuses to return, try and
replace him in an inferior sequel, die, become a footnote in the history of the
action films, allow said original star to revitalize two of his other franchises,
and then recruit a series of new talent and the original star back for a
surprise third entry. A third entry that, in all seriousness, is easily the
best of the franchise. “How can this be,” you ask. “How can xXx: Return of Xander Cage exist?” Considering
that Vin Diesel has elevated two of his other franchises (The Fast and the Furious and Riddick)
from the bowels of hell, is it that odd? What does make it odd is that Return of Xander Cage is so much fun.
While the first two entries have their merits as B-movie entertainment, they
leave a lot to be desired, but Vin Diesel has learned a lot from the
re-emergence of his other two franchises and takes those lessons to heart for
this third entry. It’s not as good as either of those series, just in principal
it lacks a sense of grounded seriousness, but Return of Xander Cage is outrageously entertaining. What can I say
except that, despite some very distinct eye rolling at the first third of the
film, I had a blast.