XXX

COLUMBIA TRISTAR

RELEASED 17 October 2002

There was a court case years back where Sony claimed it owned the right to make James Bond films, not original owners MGM. It was a very dubious case and predictably came to nothing. But before Sony did finally get the Bond franchise all to themselves, they tried out their own super-spy franchise-in-the-making with upcoming action hero Vin Diesel.

Diesel play Xander ‘Triple X’ Cage, an extreme sports fanatic who likes to film outlandish stunts while ridiculing big company bosses and selling the footage on the internet, where he has legendary status like skateboarder Tony Hawk. He’s upsetting the system and having fun doing it. Unable to infiltrate a Czech terror group, desperate secret goverment boss Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) kidnaps Cage and tells him he now has a new profession whether he wants it or not. He is America’s new breed of spy.

Director Rob Cohen (The Fast & The Furious) has taken the classic Bond template and updated it for the new millenium. This super-spy is unconvential, tattoed, and has a great line in putdowns. There are a few clever nods to Daddy Bond, and there are more fantastic stunts than you would expect. It starts fast and keeps going for the next two hours. A star is born.

FOUR OUT OF FIVE