xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017)

Xander Cage is back and better than ever in the third installment to xXx. xXx: Return of Xander Cage is an all popcorn fun action film that the audience by now should not expect any more from it. xXx sole purpose is to entertain with its pumping cgi filled action, with plenty of eye candy, and have a decent plot to give reasoning for the characters to chase and fight each other in every sequence.

A simple plot that follows a gang of villains led by Xiang (Donnie Yen), Serena (Deepika Padukone), and two others that steal a device "Pandora Box." They steal the device from the CIA Jane (Toni Collette). Which the device can control the satellites and cause destruction. Jane recruits the exile extreme athlete Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) to become like them and to retrieve Pandora box. Cage will need the help of his own people from Nicks (Kris Wu), Adele (Ruby Rose), and Tennyson (Rory McCann) to travel to the Philippines and to save the world from further destruction.

xXx is a brainless action film that can get ridiculous from messing with the laws of physics during a fight scene in a military plane. But the film does well in delivering the big loud action sequences. Sure, the filmmakers are not focused on a strong story or character development. As long as the action can top the previous scene and get insane and entertaining. There is plenty of exciting action sequences from an intense motorcycle chase that takes place riding above the water and into the waves. Or the fight sequence with Vin and Donnie running on top of moving semi's and into a high-speed traffic. Or the zero gravity of a military plane falling was insane. The visual effects were decent though.

Vin Diesel is awesome as Xander Cage and sure, the eye candy newcomers like Deepika Padukone, Ruby Rose, and the geeky Nina Dobrev are all stunning and made their characters fun. Donnie Yen was also a fierce fighter, and let his fighting skills do most of his acting. Samuel L. Jackson makes his appearance as Gibson again. It is not going to be the top notch acting, but these actors worked well as action stars. The audience cannot expect any more than that.

It is a movie with fun action set pieces, eye candy, and some cheesy humor. The script is not going to be the best writing. Containing some cheesy dialogue and one-liners. Which it could have worked without or have better humor. The close to action alone makes the film worth the price of admission. I feel like the first movie was superior cause it had more of a serious approach. The third film tried to have more characters that tried working as a team. Every one of the casts does have their moment to shine when it came to the action. I recommend xXx if you enjoyed the previous films or wanting to see an adrenaline pumping action movie that does not take itself seriously.