The sequel to XXX not only defies the laws of physics - it's ludicrous and cliched. But for unrepentant action fanatics it offers a few entertaining moments.
By MARTY CLEAR
Published April 28, 2005
[Photo: Columbia Pictures]
Darius (Ice Cube) breaks out the artillery to rout a group of renegade soldiers bent on assassinating the president in XXX: State of the Union.
It's easy to pinpoint the moment when XXX: State of the Union gives up any semblance of credibility.
Darius Stone (Ice Cube) is escaping from prison. He beats up several armed guards, leaving them unconscious with a punch or two. Two other guards see him escaping, have him in their rifle sights, and simply decide not to shoot.
Then comes the moment.
Darius leaps off a rooftop into thin air. At that precise second, at that precise location and altitude, some friends fly by at top speed in a high-jacked helicopter, and Darius grabs on and flies to freedom.
That's about 10 minutes into the movie. Another 90 minutes of credulity-straining stunts remain: a car drives 240 mph on blown tires; a helicopter performs precision maneuvers while keeping pace with a bullet train; Darius steals a tank and evades missiles fired from 20 feet away by simply steering out of their way.
Granted, if you're inclined to see this sequel to the mildly successful Vin Diesel vehicle XXX, you're probably not expecting realism, and you probably don't especially care that the plot (about a plan to kill government officials) is both cliched and nonsensical.
But you really have to be in love with shaky cameras, frantic editing and extreme close-ups of Ice Cube's face to lose yourself in this messy conglomeration of recycled stunts.
If you do happen to care a whit about plot and character, though, at least there's the estimable Samuel L. Jackson, reprising his role as agent Augustus Gibbons from the original XXX. Gibbons is looking for a meaner, badder dude to take Vin Diesel's place as a latter-day Rambo. That's where Darius comes in.
He has gotten meaner, embittered by his nine years in prison on trumped-up charges (even though he's apparently able to escape whenever he feels like it).
Together they uncover a planned coup, led by Secretary of Defense Willem Dafoe (in the most one-dimensional role of his career) and a gang of renegade special ops soldiers, whose aim is to take down the president, played in laughably uncharismatic fashion by TV actor Peter Strauss.
Ice Cube's performance has a certain amount of appeal - you gotta love such a chubby superhero - and Jackson has a line or two that recall his astounding performance in Pulp Fiction. Rapper Xzibit is raw but suitably intense as the leader of a gang of chop-shop thugs.
But if you care about anything other than action and volume, you're likely to find this sequel stultifying. And if fast-paced stunts and muddy computer animation are your passion, you can get just as much satisfaction from a video game.
XXX: STATE OF THE UNION
Grade: D
Director: Lee Tamahori
Writers: Rich Wilkes, Simon Kinberg
Cast: Ice Cube, Willem Dafoe, Samuel L. Jackson, Xzibit, Peter Strauss
Rating: PG-13 for intense action violence and some language
