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XXX: State of the Union (2005)
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Reviews Counted:135
Fresh:22
Rotten:113
Average Rating:3.8/10
Consensus: Even more absurd and implausible than the first XXX movie.
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: Ice Cube replaces Vin Diesel for this hard-bangin' sequel which favors fists, cars, and snooping over the original's heavy dose of extreme sports stunts. NSA agent Gibbons (Samuel Jackson, back... Ice Cube replaces Vin Diesel for this hard-bangin' sequel which favors fists, cars, and snooping over the original's heavy dose of extreme sports stunts. NSA agent Gibbons (Samuel Jackson, back from the original) finds his group under attack by well-armed, well-informed combatants, forcing him to activate a new XXX, Darius Stone (Cube), an old Navy Seal buddy currently cooling his heels in an army prison. It turns out there's a plan to whack the president (Peter Strauss) and a deranged secretary of defense played by Willem Dafoe is behind it. What's more important is the cool way Darius knows how to land a speeding boat on a bridge, then walk away in slow motion as it blows up behind him. Other great scenes include a tank battle on an aircraft carrier and a race with a bullet train that makes THE FRENCH CONNECTION look like a turtle race. There's some hilarious dialogue, such as when Darius recruits his old D.C. car-jacking buddies to ride into battle against the corrupt militia, leading to the "first tank-jacking in history." Scott Speedman plays a sympathetic Fed; Lola Jackson and Sunny Mabrey are the sexy chicks. There's lots of greal looking cars, cool gadgets, and pumpin' rap-crunk music. Director Lee Tamahori also helmed James Bond's DIE ANOTHER DAY and the 1997 thriller THE EDGE. [More]
Starring: Ice Cube, Samuel L. Jackson, Scott Speedman, Peter Strauss
Starring: Ice Cube, Samuel L. Jackson, Scott Speedman, Peter Strauss, Sunny Mabrey, Willem Dafoe, Lola Jackson, Xzibit
Director: Lee Tamahori
Director: Lee Tamahori
Screenwriter: Simon Kinberg
Producer: Neal H. Moritz, Arne Schmidt
Composer: Marco Beltrami
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Reviews for XXX: State of the Union
Ice Cube makes an appealing lead and no-one ever mentions that he might be a little on the tubby side to really cut it as an action hero.
OK you don't expect a sequel to 2002's brainless XXX to be an action masterwork, but this is so preposterous that it feels like an overblown spoof of the original.
In light of the cinematic abomination that is "XXX: State Of The Union," Vin Diesel made the right choice by refusing to do another "xXx" movie unless Rob Cohen continued to direct the franchise.
Youngsters and action junkies won't mind the film's ridiculous gadgets, secret tunnels and hairsbreadth escapes, but everyone else will have to check credibility at the door.
Well, they sure blowed 'em up good in XXX: State of the Union. And they pimped many rides. XXX is a car nut's fantasy.
There’s not a single scene in this film that doesn’t provide at least one unintentional guffaw.
Delivers the no-thinking-required, over-the-top goods, with some surprising digs at the original film providing the icing on this tasty bit of cinematic junk food.
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