Great Film: xXx: State of the Union
Much funnier than "Johnny English" - too bad it's not supposed to be a comedy.
"xXx2: The Next Level" (Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures
changed the subtitle from "State of the Union" for international
territories, for obvious reasons) comes from the director of "Die
Another Day," which was terrible; producer Neal H. Moritz, whose last
credited project was the dire (and thankfully now-cancelled) "Point
Pleasant"; is a sequel to the dreadful "xXx"; and comes equipped with
Samuel L. Jackson's stated dislike of making movies with rappers. On
this showing, you can't blame him.
Trading in Vin Diesel (his character is written out by someone saying
that he got killed in Bora Bora) for Ice Cube is no improvement; not
only is he not the most expressive actor, but he's not that convincing
in action (when he's being chased by Scott Speedman you just KNOW that
Speedman would catch him like that (snaps fingers) in real life). In
fairness to Mr. Cube, he's far from the only thing wrong with this;
Simon Kinberg's screenplay seems not only to have been aimed at
emotionally and intellectually stunted 13-year-olds but written by them
as well, with the plot starting idiotically and continuing from there -
the villainous Secretary of Defence played by Willem Dafoe is so
pantomime villainous that when he makes a speech to Jackson you're
surprised he doesn't laugh maniacally.
Suspending disbelief is one thing, but when you have a movie that
expects people to believe that tanks can be handled like motorbikes...
and which works in such daft plot turns as characters having their
deaths faked just so they can be around for the climax (why not just
kill them there?)... and that has a finale which depends on a car and a
Presidential bullet train being able to fit on the same track despite
the car being a compact if speedy sports car... in this case it's just
impossible. Admittedly it doesn't help that said scenes are
incompetently executed thanks to shockingly bad special effects and
shoddy direction; some of the miniatures are glaringly obvious, and I
particularly hope that lead effects house Industrial Light and Magic
didn't do the CGI bullet train shots. And as for the way some of the
shots go from film to what looks like video and back again...
The cast isn't much good either, although it's fun to see Peter Strauss
as the President (in spite or because of his not sounding like he
believes a word of this); Xzibit not only helps parts of this seem like
"Pimp My Ride: The Movie" but he can't act, Dafoe is Special Guest
Villain level, and Jackson phones it in. As for the female characters,
Nona Gaye and Sunny Mabrey are pretty much defined by their cleavage
and by the fact that one's good and the other (the one who looks like a
cross between Nicolette Sheridan and Rachel Bilson) isn't. (The movie
can't even be laddish properly; for some reason the sexiest woman in
the movie (Masuimi Max, who plays Xzibit's girlfriend and who helps out
with the robbery of the artillery-carrying cheese truck) isn't listed
in the credits.) And the tiresome, crowbarred-in rap numbers don't
help, certainly not compared to Marco Beltrami's score. (Ironically, at
one point on hearing the female string quartet Bond our hero complains
about the music; they are not to blame for the aural wrongs.)
"xXx2: Whatever" is so unexciting and so absurd that despite its stabs
at relevance (our hero claims Dafoe is hatching "World War IV"), the
only way to get through it is as a laugher; the sight of Ice Cube in a
suit and tie (with umbrella!) is funnier than his intentional attempt
at comedy later in the same scene. To make it worse, the last scene
leaves the door wide open for a third movie... if it does happen, why
not cast Scarlett Johansson or Charlotte Church as the new Triple X?
It's not like realism is a key factor here.
Cast
- Agent Augustus Gibbons played by Samuel L. Jackson
- Lola Jackson played by Nona Gaye
- Charlie Mayweather played by Sunny Mabrey
- Darius Stone / played by Ice Cube
- General George Deckert played by Willem Dafoe
- Zeke played by Xzibit
- Agent Toby Lee Shavers played by Michael Roof
