XXX: Return of Xander Cage

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A group of extreme sports enthusiasts/assassins steal a very dangerous McGuffin. CIA agent Jane Marke (Toni Collette) enlists help from Xander Cage, hence the movie’s title. I honestly really enjoyed this movie. That doesn’t make this movie good, however. The story is extremely stupid and doesn’t make any damn sense. Fortunately, this isn’t one of those movies I would even consider watching for the story. The writing is on the level of a cornball 80s action movie. A soldier tells Cage that he and his men aren’t “jacked up on Red Bull and Mountain Dew, asshole.” The movie follows a lot of your typical action movie tropes. There are a lot of awesome action scenes (director D.J. Caruso handles them surprisingly well), pretty, scantily clad women. I’m expected to believe that Nina Dobrev from The Vampire Diaries is supposed to be a tech expert. The woman is clearly trying, but she succeeds a little too well in making her character come off as annoying. Admittedly, she does grow on me as the movie goes on. On the other hand, I do enjoy the performances by Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson, Ruby Rose, Rory McCann, and Donnie Yen. Yen, in particular, steals the show. Whenever he is onscreen, I find myself glued to him. On the other hand, actress Deepika Padukone offers little to be desired in her performance aside from being attractive. She feels wooden and lifeless when delivering her lines. Overall, XXX: Return of Xander Cage works because it is completely ridiculous. It doesn’t seem to aspire to be anything more than dumb action fun. For the most part, the acting isn’t bad (it’s not trying to win any awards by any stretch of the imagination). The writing, directing, and lack of story elevate this movie to very well deserved guilty pleasure status.  

6 / 10