Vibe.com, April 29th, 2005
Forget about Vin Diesel's urban James Bond imitation from the 2002 installment of xXx. Within the first couple of moments of its sequel xXx - State of the Union, the hard to kill agent is murdered off screen and replaced by the street savvy Darius Stone (Ice Cube)- another handpicked criminal with exceptional spy skills.
This time around, NSA honcho Agent Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) finds himself in need of another outsider to help derail an implausible presidential coup, which was planned by the eerily sinister Secretary of Defense (Willem Dafoe). The paper-thin-plot involves Gibbons and the new agent xXx tracking down the military splinter group that is conspiring to overthrow the American government. Along the way they encounter multiple massively farfetched explosions.
Although xXx2 is a nonstop montage of over-the-top sequences, the exploits become so routine it feels like the run of the mill studio action flick. The film's saving grace is Ice Cube's charisma and improbable action hero character persona (despite his constant scowl). It could have something to do with his N.W.A. past, but there's something quite believable about him portraying an ex-con with a grudge against society.
Director Lee Tamahori (who also directed the last James Bond flick, Die Another Day) creates a landscape where federal agents are so inept that criminals ride around with pimped out wheel screeching racecars and wind generating helicopters that sneak up on people. Despite obvious plot holes, it's as if it doesn't matter, as long as something or someone blowing up caps off the scene.
Ice Cube, whose films constantly turn a profit despite their dubious nature, once again turns crap into credible.
