XXx: State Of The Union Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Prepare for the next level
The greatest threat to our nation comes from within.
NSA Agent Augustus Gibbons (Jackson), fresh off the success of his last renegade recruitment, once again finds himself in need of an outsider. Gibbons and his new agent (Ice Cube) must track a dangerous military splinter group, led by Willem Dafoe, that is conspiring to overthrow the U.S. Government in the nation's capital.
| Samuel L. Jackson | Agent Augustus Gibbons |
| Willem Dafoe | Gen. George Octavius Deckert |
| Ice Cube | XXX/Darius Stone |
| Xzibit | Zeke |
| John G. Connolly | Lt. Alabama 'Bama' Cobb |
| Ramon De Ocamp | Agent Meadows |
| Nona Gaye | Lola Jackson |
| Matt Gerald | |
| Michael Roof | Toby Lee Shavers |
| Scott Speedman | Agent Kyle Steele |
| Peter Strauss | President James Sanford |
| Sunny Mabrey | Charlie |
| Barry Sigismondi | Bull |
| Michael Don Evans | Conductor |
| David Rountree | Agent |
| Ned Schmidtke | Gen. Jack Pettibone |
| Lee Tamahori |
4.10 out of 10 (8820 votes)
Visitor Reviews
A slick action mess that is entertaining.
posted on 31 Aug 2009Prisoner Darius Stone (Ice Cube) is been in prison for nine years. Stone is a thrill seeking troublemaker criminal with the extreme sports obsession. The original agent xXx (Played by Vin Diesel in the 2002 film) is been murdered. National Security Agent Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) needs a new xXx agent in his field by choosing Stone. Stone's mission is to save the U.S. government from a deadly conspiracy led by Five-Star General George Octavius Deckert (Willem Dafoe).Which Deckert is also the Secretary of Defense. The new renegade xXx agent has the skill to stop Deckert. Which Stone has a troubled past with Deckert. Stone must stop Deckert's dangerous military splinter group with the help of his friends (Xzibit & Nona Gaye) and a whiz weapons designer agent Toby Lee Shavers (Micheal Roof). Stone needs to stop Deckert before He will take control of the government in America's capital.Directed by Lee Tamahori (Along Came a Spider) made an messy but fine entertaining action thriller. Tamahori is the perfect guy to directed this film, after his successful James Bond film-"Die Another Day". The Problem with the film is the script by Simon Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, X-Men 3) is so-so. But it has enough action to overcome certain flaws. Scott Speedman co-star as Agent Kyle Steele and also co-starring is Peter Strauss as The President of the United States.DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an strong-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD has an running commentary track by the director and writer. The second commentary is by the Visual Effects Crew. DVD also has an Documentary, Featurettes and more. This Sequel was a Box Office Bomb, because of Vin Diesel and director:Rob Cohen didn't return for the sequel. But Ice Cube is in fine form. Maybe this film shouldn't be a sequel and re-titled the film to find better Box Office Success but it didn't happen. The film will play better on DVD with a good Home Theater system. Super 35. (*** ½/*****).
Stupid, but refreshingly honest
posted on 31 Aug 2009Lee Tamahori is something of an enigma. On the strength of one good movie he's managed to convince Hollywood to part with good money after bad to make even more stupid movies, reaching a nadir in the wretched 'Die Another Day'. While he's yet to manage Uwe Boll's neat trick of making every single movie both stupid and offensive he's coming along nicely. Typically each Tamahori movie starts off strong and falters some ten minutes after curtains-up. The prospect of him teaming up Revolution studios will be welcomed by anybody who believes Paul Walker is an action star but surprisingly he's managed to make to make something very rare in Hollywood: an honest film.True, it's predictable to a maddening degree: not only can you work out that Dafoe will be sitting in the chair waiting for Jackson to turn up but to an extent you can mouth some of the dialogue along with him.None of this should stop you from watching xXx: State of the Union however as it's incredibly entertaining. It promises mindless stunts and unlike it's peers (Torque, xXx et al) it's well filmed, full of surprisingly good moments and with more muscular, visceral energy than it's predecessor. In a way it's very much in the vein of Golan & Globus in the mid 80's along the lines of the equally stupid but entertaining American Ninja, although it has a genuinely likable star in the lead role: Ice Cube. Cube is a marvellous actor I have plenty of time for; capable of knowing when to take thing seriously and when to keep his tongue firmly in his cheek and in here he's on top form. Unlike Diesel in the original xXx, Cube looks very much capable of physical harm, has some marvellous facial expressions and above all the sense of mischievous humour needed to carry such a lightweight movie.You'll enjoy xXx: State of the Union. It's clumsy, stupid and poorly written but in it's three leading roles and honesty it has a certain charm. Revolution Studios doesn't want to make an epic of complex intrigue, politics or dialogue. They just want to blow things up.
Sigh.
posted on 31 Aug 2009I could't watch the whole movie at once, I had to take few hours brake from this nightmare in the middle of the film.This movie is full of poor one-liners, bad acting and horrendous computer generated scenes. Only thing that could have saved this film was L Jackson, but he failed.If you enjoyed other poor quality "action"-films like Torque or almost every Steven Seagal -movie you will probably feel like home while watching this. To come to think of it, this movie is actually even worse than any of the Seagals movies if that is even humanly possible.I give this movie 2 out of 10 just, because they got Jackson to act in it.I truly feel sorry for everyone who actually paid to see this.
Avoid like the Plague
posted on 27 Aug 2009Oh my Gosh, where to begin. This film starts off full throttle with lots of hardcore action, and then just goes to hell-in-a-hand basket. With a film of this intent you are definitely not expecting Academy award nominations or even realism for that matter; but I draw the line at video game graphics….. and that exactly what the film turns into, xXx: State of the Union, the video game now available on PS 2 coming this Fall. The movie is just a 101 minute ad for the video game coming to a store near you this Christmas.In this go around, Ice Cube (Darius Stone) is tabbed as special agent XXX. When the agency's HQ in Virginia is infiltrated and sixteen agents are killed during the opening sequence of this film, Agent Augustus Gibbons (played by Samuel L. Jackson) is forced to find another agent outside the company lines to track down the assailants. Former Agent Darius Stone, currently residing in a Federal prison, is the man for the job. In possibly the best action sequence of the film, Stone is freed from prison and is forced into deep uncover OPS. However from this seen on, the film nosedives into a flaming, fiery tailspin of hogwash misconceptions and horrendous inconceivable CGI special effects.**Spoiler** In a nutshell, General George Octavius Deckert (played by Willem Dafoe) plans to annihilate the President of the United States, and all the members of the cabinet ahead of him in line for the presidency during the President's State of the Union address speech. General Deckert has amassed his own private army to include an aircraft carrier full of equipment to assist in his mission. He plans to divert the blame onto Agent Augustus Gibbons and his group of Navy Seals, who once disobeyed a direct order of General Gibbons.I love movies. I can accept spiders swinging from buildings, unknown universes with light sabers, or even cyborgs from the future sent back to change history; but the rubbish being spewed in this film as well as its lame special effects is totally unacceptable. I highly suggest avoiding this film like the plague.
Bush administration spent at least $1.6 billion on public relations
posted on 24 Jul 2009The Bush administration spent at least $1.6 billion on public relations and advertising campaigns over 30 months, according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. This is why this movie uses blacks to protect the "president" from being killed by an inside coup led by William Defoe who keeps saying that the country is on the wrong path and needs to be taken back.That the country is going to hell is common public sentiment and the actual truth. Using blacks to protect Bush from carrying out this agenda is the height of the ridiculous when Bush has disenfranchised them time and time again including the 2000 Presidential electoral votes in Florida and then the 2004 electoral votes in Ohio where blacks were left out in the cold. How could anyone not see through this propaganda movie that uses their very tax dollars to indoctrinate them into supporting Bush destroying their very lives and their country? This movie represents a tragic state of affairs.
Boring tyrecommercial
posted on 12 Jul 2009I had not seen the first xXx movie when I went to watch this so I basically had no idea what was xxx all about, except for guns and high-speed cars of course. I really wish I hadn't gone to the movies to see this flick, it was really terrible.For me it was kind of hard to get a grip from the beginning because there was nothing that would have explained who were the main characters and what was their goal and so on. This left the characters really shallow and the dialogue between the characters was something out of a bum disco.Ice-cube cannot act. Really. He is like a stiff crash test dummy on the screen provided with the fact that he can blurt out some lines. And oh yes, the one-liners. Horrible, I mean the one-liners were probably the worst that I have ever heard, almost ripped my ears off. I don't know how good a rapper Ice cube is but I think it would suit him better than acting. What I can't but wonder is that why Samuel L. Jackson ever agreed to do this film.And then the aluminium rims. Almost every scene begins with the filming of shiny and bright rims. All in all I think the whole point of the movie was to advertise rims. This film should be buried somewhere along with such films as Battlefield: Earth and Dungeons & Dragons.
Enjoyable action pack movie
posted on 02 Jul 2009Unknown assassins penetrate a secret National Security Agency underground facility in Virginia, and kill 16 NSA agents. Agent Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) escapes, and must find out who broke security and why. Gibbons must recruit a new XXX agent to do his dirty work. Gibbons has just the man, a former Navy Seal and member of his old military unit. However, Darius Stone (Ice Cube) was put in a military prison for 20 years, because he disobeyed a direct order from General George Deckert (Willem Dafoe), and he also broke the general's jaw. Just the man Gibbons needs to do the job. Gibbons gets Stone out of prison, and puts him to work. Stone discovers that Deckert, who is now the secretary of defense, is the mastermind of a conspiracy to stage a coup, and become President of the United States. Deckert has been training and placing his old military unit in the right places to stage his coup. Deckert wants the President killed and anybody above him in the line of secession. Darius Stone has other plans and is out to stop Deckert.This movie is an all around good action film. It has some good fight scenes and the special effects were good. The movie starts off with a good action scene, and continues through the end. Ice Cube adds a new dimension to the XXX character, and he actually does a good job as the new XXX. The storyline is a little hard to believe, but this is only an action movie and not real. I would recommend seeing it just for the action. You can just sit back and enjoy the action. (Sony Pictures, Run time 1:40, Rated PG-13) (8/10)
Blame the MPAA
posted on 28 Jun 2009Making one wish they were watching a bonafide triple X rated adventure instead, one of Hollywood's greatest insults to intelligence as we know it marks almost no progress since the heady days of Under Siege and other brain-dead action numbers. At least those had some zest to them, though.In an age when movies strive to get a leg up on the competition, such blatant abuse of viewer time and IQ can never be forgiven. Put simply, XXX2's the worst flick this reviewer has encountered in a while. It's built around two actors in the declination stage of their careers. But although Sam Jackson appears eager to take whatever's given him recently, he at least can stand proud and lay claim to having style and talent. Conversely, Ice Cube's gruff exterior hasn't changed one iota since Ghosts of Mars, and for this outing offers even less range than usual. Both add nothing to proceedings, and any off-chance of them salvaging director Lee Tamahori from churning out another rancid mass-product (he previously gave us tepid Bond entry Die Another Day) evaporates quickly.On the talent front, hardly any cast members get the job done, save for beauty Sunny Mabrey (Species 3). She at least has some wares to flaunt, and a mean streak any thriller fan will quickly lap up. On the additional infamy front, other disgraces include stalwart character actor Willem Defoe as Defense Secretary Deckert, who's bent on national security no matter what the cost. But since all protagonists and antagonists in XXX2 are about as in-depth as Petri dishes, no meaningful agenda emerges to engage our interest, and sooner rather than later the film reveals its true, vacuous nature. Meanwhile, Jackson reprises his original XXX role as Augustus Gibbons, chief agent at XXX, the super-covert organization responsible for saving the world from villainy, but not from horrible movie-making, we presume.When the secret agency comes under assault from unknown enemies, Gibbons springs into action. However, his main man from the last episode, the titular XXX, was taken out by whoever's behind all these problems, so now finding a new hero becomes the main priority. Enter Ice Cube as Darius Stone, a former Navy SEAL incarcerated for disobeying and striking a superior officer (Secretary Deckert, by the way). Stone's unwilling, malcontent nature grates almost instantly, as he and the thespian behind him have little of what made the original XXX pleasant in a renegade, extreme kind of way: Vin Diesel. The plot doesn't thicken at all, as what follows amounts to some of the dumbest action tripe in the modern annals of celluloid history. Scott Speedman (acceptable in Underworld) joins the debacle as Agent Steele, head of the NSA and one of those trying to make sense of the attack on XXX and the nation as a whole. He, too, gets tainted with the inept vibe pervading the project, and mostly does whatever you'd expect from a dashing, handsome and totally shallow G-Man.Characters grafted with idiotic names, obvious CGI bits, miserable action and a story your four year old niece could top any day of the week render XXX2 a waste of time deserving several inquiries by Capitol Hill committees. Maybe we could pin a national security breach on these people? Demoralizing the movie-going public and all. Although it should have been rated NC17 for disturbing scenes of boneheadedness, XXX2 instead made it to screens everywhere, but hopefully signals the end of this disheartening franchise. Rating: *1/2
At least Vin Diesel wasn't in this one
posted on 22 Jun 2009I had no idea what State of the Union was going to be about when I went to see it last weekend. Once inside the movie theater I was told that it is a sequel to the movie XXX. Stunned that I was about to see a Vin Diesel (have nothing personal against him but I found that odds are high that if he is in a movie I won't like it, especially after the dreaded "Man Apart") movie I almost got up to leave. I was reassured, however, that he was not in it. Sitting through the first few minutes I saw names that I liked--Ice Cube and Samuel L. Jackson--and decided to give this one a shot. I didn't see the first XXX. I wish I hadn't seen the sequel. But I did. At the end I was wishing that Vin Diesel would come and save the day by shooting the characters of Willem Dafoe, Samuel L. Jackson, Ice Cube, the College Boy and the entire biker crew. To say this movie doesn't have a plot would be insulting movies which don't have a plot but at least attempt to have one. A tyrannical Secretary of Defense who wants to kill everyone, starting with the President, in order of succession so he can lead the country? A crew of DC thugs who come to the rescue of the country so they can live in a country where they are "free to jack cars"? This movie has the same effect on a viewers intellect as does junk food on his body. It kills it slowly. And with enough Whoppers and curly fries like this one one could become brain dead. Hollywood really should put warning labels on these prepackaged cookie-cutter action movies "This movie may kill your brain cells!"
Not enough action and too intellectual
posted on 02 Jun 2009How can people say that this was a good action film? For one thing, the lead, Ice Cube, is such a wuss! He constantly cowered before the bad guys and seemed to be in utter fear throughout the whole film. It would have been nice if he just fought back instead. Also, the Neil Diamond inspired soundtrack put me to sleep. Cube is scrawny, he obviously needs to spend more time in the gym - I don't think he was in very good shape before starting this film. Also, the moves he did (during what little action there was) seemed clumsy and things that my 85-year old grandma could do.The overly-intellectual dialog was over the top. C'mon, this is an action film, not "my dinner with Andre". There was too much exploration of the pathos of eastern Europe, long-winded speeches about world peace and epicurean phenomonalism - I mean, who cares? I may as well just go watch Mulholland Drive with a bag over my head so that I won't be able to figure out what's going on.Also, I think they over-did the homoerotic subtext - especially with Ice Cube and Williem Dafoe - I don't have anything against that - but I wonder if mainstream audiences are ready for it.The film could have used a greater variety of gear - instead of just the usual car chases. For instance, there was not ONE SCENE that used a jet ski, when one could have been obviously used during a certain part of the movie that I will not reveal here because then that would give away the ending to the movie and I don't want to do that because although it didn't have enough action I don't want to ruin it for anyone else that wants to see it.
cookie cutter plot
posted on 29 May 2009Saw a screening of it today,...and probably wished I didn't agree to watch it,.. Anyways, I don't even know where to begin so here goes: Plot/action: The usual cliché plot line that involves government agency coverups, bad blood, and conspiracies to kill the President. I thought the first 'XXX' was OK, but the plot of 'XXX2' is so unoriginal and narrow-minded it makes the first one seem like an epic. The action and stunts aren't even imaginative,.. seems like even money can't buy a good movie because even the fight scenes are uninspiring,..kind of reminds me of Steven Seagal movies where you're even hoping that the main character gets his ass kicked Characters: Ice Cube playing his usual badass self, although the release of this movie is in such close proximity to 'are we there yet?' that it almost seems like him and Vin Diesel (The Pacifier) have teamed up secretly to harm America with such bad movies. Overall, I think that Ice Cube's character lacks the edge of Vin Diesel in the first installment. The other characters in this movie including the main badguy (Willem Dafoe) are cardboard thin leading you to wonder as the movie goes along if the plot development will be just as bad.Overall Entertainment Value: 4/10,..I feel that the movie would have been better if they eased up on the whole government agency conspiracy aspect and focused more on stunts, which made the first one much more easy to watch
Who composed the "wild baroque melody"?
posted on 05 May 2009I think this was a popcorn flick - I liked it but won't be running out to buy the DVD!Anyways, during the president's party (when Ice cube wanders around that room in the waiter's uniform), a group of girls play the violins in the background. I am trying to find a copy of the music but it's not listed at the end of the movie credits. Does anyone know the name or composer or orchestra who did that music? I saw the closed captioning listing it as the "wild, baroque melody". I think the same tune was played during last year's Ms. Universe as well. Thanks folks!
Infinitely better and lighter than the first xXx, but still inferior to The Constant Gardener
posted on 01 May 2009Dear Readers,With the blockbuster success of xXx, fans eagerly awaited a sequel. We finally got it in the form of xXx: State of the Union, with Ice Cube as the new xXx. This time the greatest threat to our nation comes from within as a power-crazed General, played excellently by Willem Dafoe, plans a military coup de'tat and assassination of the President and intends to blame it all on Agustus Gibbons. Gibbons springs an ex-Navy SEAL and gangsta Darius Stone from prison and the two old rivals try to stop the general's plan.xXx: State of the Union is much better than the first xXx. Ice Cube is equal in performance with Vin Diesel, but is a little 2-dimensional. The music by Marco Belltrami switches us (Thankfully) from Goth Rock to Gangsta Rap, which I kinda don't like but have more respect for. The Action is literally nonstop and is quite satisfying but I could've used a little more drama. xXx: State of the Union is an okay movie, not great to show the kids but it's still good.Signed, The Constant DVD Collector
(Rambo) Meets (Pimp My Ride) !
posted on 11 Apr 2009First off I must admit my admiration for this script as perfect ground for great bang bang flick. The duel was hot, the lines were sharp, and the action was totally ambitious. But the final result didn't live up to that.(Ice Cube) is the worst action hero of all time. I think standing his charisma could grant remission to your sins (so how about his performance too?! That could bring you heaven !). He's awful, repulsive, atrocious.. to the end of dictionary. I don't see anything persuasive in him to take the role of xXx. His body isn't astonishing or something, he shows more like the dumpy type. Let alone his too dumb face, his eternal grin that needs above-human power to be bearable, and his occasional smile which's incredibly provocative. I believe he must not make action movies, or rather "movies", again ! The budget wasn't up to the fantastic action sequences this script provides. So the CGI was obvious and inadequate. Hence, with the crazy cuts at the climatic part, the whole thing seemed like annoying poor cartoon ! I couldn't believe myself when I knew that this was directed by (Lee Tamahori) the same man who made (Die Another Day) 3 years earlier, it's without a doubt the most straight-to-video material he ever did ! The speech Ice gives, while convincing Xzibit to join to the action, was too goofy. The female lead was scary inanimate (some black chick with only huge boobs and spirit of a statue!). The original movie's brilliant sense of spoofing Bond or exposing the game while achieving it wasn't here at all. The sense of humor is killed. The presence of (Cube) instead of (Van Desial) apart was a thunderbolt of a surprise (not to mention the impudent reference that the first xXx is dead !!). All of that, along side the aforementioned, collaborated to smash this one's reputation as good movie, or good memory !Even the live, some kind of sane, presence of (Samuel L. Jackson) and (Willem Dafoe) didn't save the day. I just liked the idea of one secretary of defense who's hating peace, wanting to destroy everything for the sake of world control and ruling by absolute violence, refusing the principle of transforming the enemies into allies as a smart shadow for the actual president back then (George .W . Bush) !Actually the idea of Rambo meeting Pimp My Ride, where the boyz from the hood go 2 blow up the Congress 4 America, is clever but with – at least – another lead.Lastly, "Wars come and go, but my soldier stay eternal" Tupac. "Everytime you go away, It actually kinda makes my day" Avril Lavigne!
its alright
posted on 30 Mar 2009i think that xxx the state of the union was no where near as good as the first one...i think they should have made Vin diesel the star again because it was way better with him as the star. the graphics in xxx state of the union sucked and the whole car and train thing was so computerized that it wasn't even fun to watch...and Vin diesel lasted all those different situations and yet he died in bora bora just like that they don't tell u anything about what happened to him they just say he died last night in bora bora well what about the girl is she still alive or did she die to? who killed him? the movie would have been a lot better if they would've explained that more and not keep us in the dark about it i would have liked the movie a lot more if Vin diesel was the star.
Fun, edge-of-the-seat action movie
posted on 22 Mar 2009I didn't think I was going to like this movie but ended up seeing it with a friend on pay-per-view on his giant-screen TV (complete with an incredible home theater system -- the soundtrack was amazing in full Dolby 5.1). The film turned out to be far better than I expected.Keep in mind the genre -- it's a thrill ride, not a "heavy" movie. The ability to suspend all disbelief is probably a must-have, like for so many movies of its type. Parts of the story are a little predictable, but the action scenes were good and some of Ice Cube's stone-faced one-liners had us howling.Ice Cube was, I think, a better actor in this role than the star of the original XXX (Vin Diesel) was. I know others have criticized Ice Cube's acting, but I thought he did a credible job of playing the reluctant, royally ticked-off XXX character and keeping us laughing while we sat on the edge of our seats awaiting the outcome of the action sequences.Samuel L. Jackson and Willem Dafoe were awesome, as usual, and perhaps their incredible acting talent helped boost Ice Cube's believability. But I had no difficulty believing in Ice Cube as Darius Stone -- if there was anyone that seemed less than believable to me, it was Peter Strauss' wimpy President Sanford. But perhaps that was intentional, too; his lack of gumption made the other male characters look positively laced with testosterone.Highly recommended for action-flick junkies and those who enjoy a light-hearted lark of a movie. Not recommended for anyone who isn't interested in anything but the next Oscar winner.
The best Steven Seagal movie since Under Siege.
posted on 20 Mar 2009Too bad they had to get another pudgy musician/non-actor to replace him and market it as a xXx sequel. Not to say I didn't enjoy this, but you'd have to have never seen a Seagal movie to not spot the clichés. The hero is always a poker-faced cop/fed who's reluctant to fight, but always does, rarely taking a scratch in the process. There's always a villain who chews the scenery and often an underlying political subtext.xXx: State of the Union has all of these things, except for one difference: Ice Cube has charisma and can maneuver surprisingly well for a big guy. Okay, that's two things but if you've seen Ol' Squinty's recent output, you'll note the importance of the second.The movie is of course trash, but it's fun trash. The action and explosions never let up, Dafoe makes for another good action villain (shades of Spider-Man), and as with Vin Deisel in xXx, Cube's streetwise sensibility elevates it above the average blow-em-up. I somewhat object to the treatment of Sunny Mabrey's character, not that she gets hers in the end (she did deserve it) but the misogynistic way it comes off. Then again, I'm not the target gender for these movies.Overall, a trashy good time for those of us who just like to watch stuff get blown sky high. I sincerely hope to see Cube in Action Hero Mode again instead of more crappy family comedies.
Decent action Flick
posted on 14 Mar 2009Seen this today at a staff screening, All round good action movie with loads of cool effects. Nice CG and some great fight scenes.Ice Cube isn't bad as the main man and brings a new dimension to the character , quite different to the one portrayed by VIn Diesel in the original. Not a man for car chases to be honest, but this one had some good moments. However thats about as good as it got for me. Lacked a decent story and many scenes...although it was XXX and an action movie...were quite fantastical .However if you take it for what its trying to be, a good action movie with great effects, then you wont be disappointed Don't go expecting intricate plots and romance Highly enjoyable all the same
The next level
posted on 14 Mar 2009Hi Folks ! It came to my senses after watching this piece of movie-making, that the alternative title of the State of the Union, "The next Level" is much more appropriate really. Today, I have witnessed a next level of stupidity on the white screen. Fortunately only on the home theater; the film isn't worth a ride to the cinema, believe me. Since this is all about alternatives for something, I will restrain myself from writing a proper review and give you some notes on what the movie is the opposite of. If you enjoy 007, than this movie should be avoided at all costs.007 films generally have an attractive, charismatic lead actor - xxx2 does not.A 007 has this scent of intelligence around him - xxx's Ice Cube, or whatever his name really is, cannot spell the word "intelligence".007 films have good one-liners - xxx2 is covered in cheesy outcries.007 films make use of an actor as lead player - xxx2 has a rapper.007 films are shot all over the globe - xxx2 crew visited a truck tuning garage, a blue screen/studio, a set used in xxx1 (the boats) and a jail.007 films have both blacks and whites playing a hero - xxx2 is racially biased, since all whites are lacking sense and intelligence. Definitely a new form of Artificial Stupidity has been introduced by this film.007 films give a "what's the next surprise?" feeling - xxx2 only makes you check the time during play, in order to find out if this is going to be a long movie or (prefferably) not.I know, not much of a review, and why comparing this crappy produce with Bond ? The only reason for bringing in the 007 franchise is, to give a compliment to the movie for being so obviously Anti-Bond in any respect.If you want alternatives to Bond b.t.w.: check out the Born Identity/supremacy films. They will do less harm to your self-respect.
Horrible, Horrible....
posted on 31 Aug 2009First off, I want to say that I like and respect Mr. Cube as well as Mr. Samuel L. Jackson. That said, I can't understand why these two agreed to star in this piece of horrible, offensive, far-fetched modernized garbage. I haven't seen the original "XxX," and if there's a God up in the sky, hopefully, I'll never have to endure another "Xxx" movie or ANYTHING the name "Vin Diesel" is attached to in my lifetime. So far, I've been pretty lucky with the "never seeing a Vindisel movie in my lifetime," part, but not so lucky with being goaded into seeing this ridiculous sequel by a friend of mine. (I protested, whined, protested, and whined even a little more, but my friend is tenacious, and somehow, he talked me into seeing a "XxX" movie.If I ever do meet Mr. Samuel L. Jackson, I know I'll tell him, "Hey, man! I loved you in 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Die Hard with A Vengeance,' both great, great performances.... You are a tremendous talent, Mr. Jackson: that's why I'm wondering why you actually participated in that turd of a movie "XxX: State of the Union." People won't forget that you're in it. All they have to do is google "XxX 2" and the results will either be the IMDb page for that train-wreck of a movie with your name right on the top of it or some sleazy adult website. It just doesn't make sense, Mr. Jackson, that that same bad mother------ from "Pulp Fiction" attached his name to a cheesy, hard-to-watch (but not easy-to-forget) sequel to an equally-atrocious Vin Diesel picture...." Yeah, that's what I'd say.Anyhow, the writing here is very very bad. There's no real plot at all. And even for a coming-of-age, direct-to-DVD (I think it's a direct-to-DVD...I don't recall even HEARING ABOUT THIS...) the movie fails miserably. Like I already said: There's no plot: No plot or acting whatsoever, but plenty of explosions and a few pretty girls. So, you might think "XxX: State of the Union" is a good movie if you're about 12 years of age or maybe even a little bit younger. Cube's character here is desperately--and painfully obviously--trying to act like some bad**s, wronged from the very outset of the picture. Blah blah blah.Anyway, save your money, folks. If you want to see Cube on screen as leading man, go rent/buy the original "Friday." A much, much better movie than this unoriginal junk that the movie studios thoroughly enjoy releasing instead of actually paying good writers and directors to produce a half-decent, modernized action flick.