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Movies / On DVD / XXX: State of the Union
XXX: State of the Union

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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

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for XXX: State of the Union

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
05/14/05
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Viewed on its own trashy terms, it succeeds brilliantly.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
05/21/05
Paul Arendt
Paul Arendt
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
04/18/05
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

James Bond’s producers aren’t going to like Die Another Day director Lee Tamahori delivering a sleeker, more contemporary thriller than he made for them.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
04/28/05
Chuck Wilson
Chuck Wilson
L.A. Weekly

Any movie that has the President quoting Tupac had an idea somewhere along the way.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
04/29/05
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

One of the best sequels ever made without the star of the original... The only reason to criticize is if you just don’t like big, unrealistic action.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
04/28/05
Fred Topel
Fred Topel
About.com

Intellectually as dumb as a door post, but Ice Cube provides enough fun.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
04/30/05
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Cacophonous, ridiculous, and overblown, but it got on my good side.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
04/28/05
Jeffrey Chen
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies

You are supposed to walk away entertained, and I did.

Full Review Source: 3BlackChicks Review | comment Comment
06/06/05
Kamal  'The Diva' Larsuel
Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel
3BlackChicks Review

Opens explosively and never lets up, with Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day) in full command of the action and Simon Kinberg an equally astute writer with a flair for linking socko action set pieces with terse characterization.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
04/28/05
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ice Cube keeps the action-movie franchise alive with a pleasing one-two punch of humor and burly physicality.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
04/28/05
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

With Ice Cube at the wheel, it delivers all the adrenaline a junkie could ever want. Just don't pay too much attention to anything else going on in the movie.

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
04/29/05
Kit Bowen
Kit Bowen
Hollywood.com

Is it too late to toss Ice Cube's name into the hat in the new James Bond sweepstakes? I'd be down with that.

Full Review Source: San Antonio Express-News | comment Comment
05/06/05
Larry Ratliff
Larry Ratliff
San Antonio Express-News

Ice Cube brings his trademark charisma and street sensibility to a film that wouldn't be nearly as entertaining without it, though he gets considerable help from better-than-the-material-deserves performances by Jackson and Dafoe.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
04/28/05
Mack Bates
Mack Bates
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
07/07/05
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

It has just enough sociology, and is wholly dismissive of physics and logic. Still, the last half-hour's unbridled action raises it to the original's enjoyable-trash level.

Full Review Source: State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL) | comment Comment
04/29/05
Nick Rogers
Nick Rogers
State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)

This is that rare B movie that’s rooted in gut-level stirrings of power and retaliation.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
05/02/05
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

The movie appears to have employed a Super Nintendo as its screenwriter, and it boasts all the elegance and character development of a Transformers episode.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
04/27/05
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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