Richard Crouse

If James Bond were 20 years younger he’d be Xander Cage (Vin Diesel), the tattooed spy of XXX. From its opening moments this movie is in hyper-drive. The ultra-hip Cage is an extreme sports athlete with a website that broadcasts his stunts. When we first meet him he steals a car belonging to a Senator who wants to ban video games and rap music, two of Cage’s passions. But he doesn’t just steal it. He takes the car, manages to out manoeuvre dozens of police cars in a wild chase, and destroy the Senator’s corvette by driving it off a bridge and parachuting to safety. It’s just one of many crazy stunts packaged in XXX. There’s a daring escape from a restaurant, a spectacular snowboarding through an avalanche scene, and some motorcycle work that would make Evel Kenievel green with envy. Oh, there’s also a story… something about a ring of terrorists in Prague who are messing around with chemical weapons… but really, who cares, did you come see this for the plot? No you come to see the pumped-up cool guy Vin Diesel kick butt and do things that aren’t humanly possible, yet seem so effortless when he does them. He’s a great action star – smarter than Stallone, younger than Schwarzenegger and has even less hair than Bruce Willis. His appeal transcends his biceps, as he also appears to have a brain in his head. Throw in a large dollop of charisma on top of that and look out Steven Seagal, you’re about to be kick boxed into the old age home. XXX is big stupid fun – things blow up, wisecracks are flying left and right, and there are some very cool gadgets.