xXx2: The Next Level ** (2004, Ice Cube, Samuel L Jackson, Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman, Xzibit, Peter Strauss, Sunny Mabrey) – Classic Movie Review 3160

So they couldn’t persuade Vin Diesel to do the sequel to the 2002 hit xXx and replaced him with the world’s least likely action man, Ice Cube, who is predictably all at sea as imprisoned former US Navy SEAL Darius Stone. Samuel L Jackson is back as the US spy boss Agent Augustus Gibbons who recruits him  a new agent in the xXx programme for some more espionage nonsense.

Director Lee Tamahori‘s action thriller movie may not be terrible but it sure isn’t good, apparently putting an end to the xXx franchise, which evidently can’t work without Diesel. Both stars seem incredibly uncomfortable, but then Jackson was uneasy in the first film too.

It also stars Willem Dafoe as General George Deckert, Scott Speedman as Agent Kyle Christopher Steele, Xzibit as Zeke, Sunny Mabrey as Charlie Mayweather and Peter Strauss as President James Sanford.

It was a box office flop: costing $60 million, it took only $26 at the US box office.

Billed as ‘from the director of Die Another Day‘, it is also known as xXx: State of the Union. It is mentioned in the movie that Diesel’s character Xander Cage has died, but that didn’t stop them reviving him for a third episode in the franchise in 2017, xXx: Return of Xander Cage.

Vin Diesel opined: ‘You have to know where stories that I asked for $30 million to do xXx2 come from. If somebody wants you to be in a film and you don’t want to do it, they won’t say you didn’t do it because the script sucked.’

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© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3160

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