If you didn't know better, you'd swear that people behind "xXx: State of the Union" were trying to make the first "xXx" movie look better by coming up with an even more ridiculous and moronic sequel.
Gone are the first film's improbable but somewhat amusing stunts, performed on motorcycles and other X Games vehicles and apparatus. They've been replaced by the souped-ups cars and equally improbable chase scenes like those in the "Fast and the Furious" movies.
And in an attempt to bring in urban audiences, Vin Diesel has been replaced by rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube, who isn't terribly convincing as an action star.
This dim-witted action-thriller might go down better if its presidential-assassination storyline weren't in such bad taste and if its attitude weren't so misogynistic — and if its attempts at humor were more than lame one-liners.
Ice Cube stars as Darius Stone, a former Navy SEAL who's been imprisoned for nearly a decade, after disobeying orders. That hasn't stopped NSA Agent Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) from breaking him out of prison and recruiting him to be his newest xXx agent. (Operatives in that program have special skills — apparently his are the abilities to drive and eat anything.)
Darius' mission is to stop George Deckert (Willem Dafoe), the renegade Secretary of Defense, who is planning a coup — by assassinating a U.S. president (Peter Strauss) that he believes is too soft on international terrorism.
To show you how little effort and thought went into this film, Xander Cage, Diesel's character from the first movie, is dismissed with a simple line of dialogue.
It's also heavy on CGI-created or enhanced action scenes that look like they came straight out of a video game. At least they're more realistic than the physical tasks asked of the film's slightly doughy star.
And the rest of the cast is clearly phoning it in, especially Dafoe, who played a similar role in the equally sketchy "Speed" sequel, and Scott Speedman, as another NSA agent.
"xXx: State of the Union" is rated PG-13 for strong action violence (including shootings, vehicular violence, violence against women and explosive mayhem), occasional use of strong profanity (including one usage of the so-called "R-rated" curse word), brief gore, and crude slang terms as well as sexually suggestive talk. Running time: 101 minutes.
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