| ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. | |
| OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Parents need to know that this Vin Diesel movie has lots of intense action sequences and strong language for a PG-13 rating. Characters use drugs, drink, and smoke. In one scene, a number of people are killed in a particularly heartless fashion, while others watch and make fun of them. There are implied sexual situations, including a character telling his girlfriend to have sex with someone else and a woman given to X as a sexual favor, but nothing explicit is shown. A character explains his plans for world anarchy in a manner that is worth discussing with teenagers who see the film.
Always on the verge of being arrested for his over-the-top stunts, extreme sportsman Triple X (Vin Diesel) turns spy when spy chief Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) offers him the chance to work for the good guys instead of going to jail. The CIA assigns Triple X to a case involving a group in Prague that seems to be involved in more than the usual nastiness of drugs, stolen cars, and very loud music. X incorporates every extreme sport into his efforts to stop the bad guys from sending out a lethal biological agent to random cities.
XXX is not a movie about plot or character. It is a movie about gadgets, girls, explosions, and "golly, did you see that?" They have taken the essence of 14-year-old boy fantasy and put it up on the screen. This is The Dirty Dozen with one guy playing all twelve parts.
There are some great stunts, especially a snowboard race with an avalanche that would be scarier if it didn't recall the similar scene with Scrat at the beginning of Ice Age. It is too bad that the bad guy is not as interesting as X -- he's just a generic post-communist era guy with an evil plan, a big mouth, a remote control, a girlfriend who is too smart and pretty for him, and a getaway speedboat. But this movie is clearly designed as the first of a series, and it is all about X. Diesel is just the guy for the part, delivering the lines, the kisses, and the action scenes with attitude to spare.
Families can talk about the different definitions of "freedom" that bad guy Yorgi, X, and Gibbons mean when they use the term.
What is your own definition? Why? How does X decide who deserves his
loyalty? How does Yorgi? How does Gibbons?
Parents might also discuss
the sexual innuendos with their younger kids to put some of the pole
dancing favors into perspective. As for the rest, you might ask your
kids what makes a bad guy a bad guy?
The hero has good and bad in him.
What do they admire? What do they think the rewards are for the hero?
| Studio: | Columbia Tristar |
| Director: | Rob Cohen |
| Cast: | Eve, Samuel L. Jackson, Vin Diesel |
| Genre: | Action/Adventure |
| Run time: | 124 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | September 9, 2002 |
| DVD release date: | May 13, 2003 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | violence, language, drug use, and sexual situations |