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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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101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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This is better than its predecessor, but it still lacks something. It's too clean, sanitized and artificial looking, a film like this needs to get down, dirty and grimy.

Full Review Source: Eclipse Magazine | comment Comment
04/29/05
Michelle Alexandria
Michelle Alexandria
Eclipse Magazine

So generic and derivative...that it's hard to turn your brain off and even enjoy the action.

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
04/29/05
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

xXx: State of the Union is better than the first entry, which is sort of like saying a mallet to the scalp is better than a hammer.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
04/29/05
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
eFilmCritic.com

The sequel, rather than being big and dumb, is just dumb.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
04/28/05
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

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

In the words of comic Lewis Black, "Don't think about it for more than two seconds, or you'll have an aneurysm and your head will explode!"

Full Review Source: Richmond.com | comment Comment
04/28/05
Mike Ward
Mike Ward
Richmond.com

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

I have a perfect way to recreate the XXX experience at home for cheap: simply run headfirst at top speed into a brick wall. Popcorn optional.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
04/28/05
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

Succumbs to a depth of directorial incompetence not seen since the likes of Megaforce

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
04/28/05
Erik Childress
Erik Childress
eFilmCritic.com

Kinberg and Tamahori should be sued for movie malpractice.

Full Review Source: WaffleMovies.com | comment Comment
04/28/05
Willie Waffle
Willie Waffle
WaffleMovies.com

There's no wit or imagination, just the thump thump thump of exposition and explosions.

Full Review Source: Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies | comment Comment
04/28/05
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

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

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

Plays less like a sequel to XXX than a parody of it and the whole action genre.

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Weekly | comment Comment
04/28/05
Josh Bell
Josh Bell
Las Vegas Weekly

Did I enjoy this movie? Only in a dumb mindless way. It has whatever made the original XXX entertaining, but a little less of it. Does it make the slightest sense? Of course not.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
04/28/05
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This could be the ultimate video-game movie, in that it sees the world entirely in terms of gigantic explosions that take place regularly every few minutes and which no one in the narrative seems to consider in any way out of the ordinary.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
04/28/05
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

At least this movie seems more aware of its trashiness than National Treasure was. It's therefore freer to have some off-the-cuff fun the way Steven Seagal's more tolerable vehicles once did.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
04/28/05
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today

This xXx seems to know exactly how stupid it is, and this kind of self-knowledge helps nudge it toward the guilty pleasure bracket, even if it never quite makes that leap.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
04/28/05
Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News

As a rating, XXX is used to warn people away from objectionable material. For this movie, it's more like ZZZ.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
04/28/05
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

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
 
 
101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
all

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