XXX: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE

XXX: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE stars Vin Diesel as the title character, a former superspy and ladies man, who’s called back into action when his former boss is killed by a terrorist using a new computer device that can take over a satellite in the sky to aim it toward Earth to kill one person or multiple people. The movie’s clunky first half, including some smug dialogue written for Mr. Diesel, is saved by unexpected plot twists and some fancy extreme stunts and fighting, but RETURN OF XANDER CAGE also contains plenty of foul language, extreme violence in places, and some sexual innuendo. These negative elements are mixed with some moral elements and a scene with positive overt references to Jesus and the salvation he brings.

The movie opens with the scene where Xander Cage’s old boss, Gibbons, is killed by an exploding satellite deliberately aimed toward him using the new computer device. Then, a white woman, a white man and an Asian man, led by another Asian man, invade CIA headquarters in New York City. They kill a bunch of top spies and steal the computer device, called Pandora’s Box, which the CIA was able to retrieve. The remaining CIA leader, a blonde woman named Jane Marke played by Toni Collette, says they need someone to stop these thieves, “someone who can move like them, fight like them.”

Cut to Xander Cage, who’s been hiding out in the Dominican Republic after being declared dead. Previously, Xander worked with Gibbons, who created the Triple X spy program to stop special threats to the world that Gibbons uncovers or encounters. Marke comes to Xander in the Dominican to recruit his help in finding the thieves and retrieving Pandora’s Box.

“It’s time to be a patriot,” she says.

“There are no more patriots,” Xander replies. “Just rebels and tyrants.”

“Which are you?” she asks.

“I’m Triple X,” he says.

So, Xander answers Marke’s call and assembles his own special team of Triple X spies to find the thieves and retrieve the Pandora’s Box device, which can also control other computer systems, not just satellite systems. What ensues is a series of surprising twists and lots of gunfights, fistfights and other derring-do.

Except for a couple action scenes and some fighting, XXX: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE is a bit clunky in the beginning. Vin Diesel is given a smug attitude with some smug lines of dialogue often meant to be comical or satirical. RETURN OF XANDER CAGE also suffers from having no clear, identifiable villain. For instance, the motive of the thieves who take the Pandora’s Box device is unclear until the first two major plot twists, which create a new villain. After that, another plot twist changes the villain once again.

Now, it may be said that these plot twists are also a bit clunky. However, when they start emerging, the movie becomes more enjoyable, and the action scenes take on more gravitas. Also, Vin Diesel’s lines stop seeming so clunky because they appear more integrated into the movie’s story development. Ultimately, RETURN OF XANDER CAGE has some pretty incredible, fun stunts. Also, Donnie Yen, as the leader of the apparent thieves, throws in some pretty nifty, entertaining moves during the hand-to-hand combat and the gunfight scenes, as do some of the other actors.

Looking at the movie overall, RETURN OF XANDER CAGE has a light moral worldview. Despite the hero’s implied, hedonistic antics as a “ladies man,” a la James Bond, the hero and his team are fighting bad guys, including a couple villains in the government who want to use the Pandora’s Box device for nefarious means. In that sense, the movie seems to reflect a libertarian ideology that opposes big government and that argues the old adage, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Despite this, the movie also contains some politically correct, anti-capitalist elements, especially when the hero steals some Cable TV controls to give some poor people Cable access to a big soccer match. During that sequence, the hero makes a snarky comment against the rich people sitting on the board of the Cable TV company.

Surprisingly, however, the movie’s happy ending includes a Christian funeral scene for the hero’s former boss, set in a large Christian church. In that scene, a fairly large choir vigorously sings the popular song, “Oh Happy Day,” including the lyrics, “Oh happy day, oh happy day, when Jesus washed, when Jesus washed, he washed my sins away.” As this performance continues, one of the hero’s team members really gets excited by the song and sings along happily and loudly. His actions inspire a couple other team members to become emotionally involved too.

That said, XXX: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE does contain plenty of foul language and some extreme, but fairly unbloody, action violence, which includes a high body count. So, with the addition of the movie’s celebration of the hero’s antics as a ladies man, this movie’s negative content warrants extreme caution.