XXX

What’s the Story?

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.

Is It Any Good?

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.