The writing is well below average with both the premise of the stunts (although entertaining) and some of the dialogue; but the quality of the actoring somewhat helps make up for it. This makes it a great steaming movie on par with modern high budget action films that Vin Diesel also appears in.

Within the first half hour, we get 5 zoomed-in shots of Diesel's xXx neck tattoo, usually right after he's been captured by someone. That, along with a soundtrack consisting of Drowning Pool & Hatebreed, captures this glistening collection of testosterone pretty succinctly. It's certainly not as bad as it could (impressive stunts, upbeat attitude), but it's also not very good (sloppy editing, corny dialogue, ridiculous lead character). Put a more confident, funny actor in the lead, & you may have something.

Wouldn't be the first XXX movie I've seen, but it is for this series.I may never have seen a single entry in this series if not for the How Did This Get Made? podcast. They recently covered part 3x3, so I figured I'd begin at the intro.Was this a bad movie? By all means, no. Just, it was too…DAMN…LONG. Yes, it came out in 2002 but it was sooo 1990s. If you like this sort of no- brainer, Bond-rip-off sort of action flick – like I do, then this is the movie for you.Not a cliché passes as our "anti-hero" Xander Cage is recruited to take down the stereotypical end-times terrorists. Along the way, he's tested several times to pad the movie's running time and prove he's got the heart to save the good guys and preserve mankind.Already stated, it's worth seeing if you love the blow'em up 90s action films. I just wish it wasn't so long. I haven't seen the follow-ups yet and will, thanks HDTGM, but hopefully they're merciful with the screen- time.***Final thoughts: Why wasn't this a spin off of the Fast/Furious series? It was practically the same character for Vin Diesel. It's not like he's pitching black for this audience.

An extreme sports athlete, Xander Cage, is recruited by the government on a special mission. With XXX: Return of Xander Cage coming out in Theaters this Friday i decided to re-watch the first 2 films and review them so let's start with XXX the Original film starring Vin Diesel that came out in 2002 and it's a spy action film with lots of suspense and some pretty cool stunt work and although the movie can get a bit cheesy at times with things that make no sense just remember that this was the case all along. The acting is good for a film of this kind and Marton Csokas makes a really good villain as for Samuel L. Jackson he is great as always, the action sequences were handled very well and they were thrilling from start to finish and the film in the end succeeds on what it tries to do which is to entertain it's viewers with non stop action and one liners plus the soundtrack was pretty cool too (A+)