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XXX Cubed

By J. Caleb Mozzocco
Columbus Alive | April 28, 2005
Vin Diesel and Rob Cohen are either easily bored or ask for too much money to do sequels, because XXX: State of the Union marks the second sequel to an action franchise that the star and director pair haven’t had anything to do with (after 2 Fast 2 Furious).

Diesel’s next generation 007 is killed off-screen, leading NSA agent Samuel L. Jackson to look for a new XXX, and he turns to Navy SEAL turned convict Darius Stone (Ice Cube). In addition to a new X, screenwriter Simon Kinberg and director Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day) give meatier roles to Jackson and returning gadget guy and comic relief Michael Roof.

The new X’s mission is to unravel a complicated plot to overthrow the U.S. government which involves mowing down the president and the entire line of succession during a State of the Union speech, sparing only the evil mastermind and U.S. Secretary of Defense Willem Dafoe. The resulting action is serviceable boilerplate, par for the action genre and much less aggressive and obnoxious than the original.

Perhaps more interesting than the actual plot is what it says about the country, what the producers think will appeal to American audiences.

For the red states, there’s Peter Strauss playing the President of the United States as a man of action who curses, throws punches and does all his own stunts, the sort of guy the Bush team would have us believe our flight suit-wearing Commander in Chief would be if he came face to face with evildoers. For the blue, we have Dafoe, seemingly cast for his Rumsfeld-ian facial structure, as an overzealous hawk, simultaneously the country’s defense secretary and its greatest threat.

In trying to inspire pal Xzibit to join forces with him before the film’s climax, Cube gives a brief speech casting patriotism as self-interest that coincidentally helps the greater good, where looking out for your country is all just part of looking out for number one. It all adds up to a political statement on the state of our union, albeit one heavily veiled in fast cars, big explosions and pithy one-liners.
Tags: Willem Dafoe, Ice Cube, Lee Tamahori, XXX: State of the Union, Rumsfeld, Vin Diesel, XXX

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