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xXx - Widescreen Special Edition

Last year, director Rob Cohen took us through a revving car engine and down the back streets of Los Angeles at speeds of over 100 miles per hour in his film "The Fast and the Furious." Highlighting his film was a rather well-drawn performance from up-and-coming actor Vin Diesel, who showed a brutish appeal with sinister undercurrents that reflected his work in "Pitch Black" with great results. The film was basically throw-away summer drivel, but it had conviction to at least be entertaining in spite of its inconsistencies and far-fetched plot, and the car sequences, believe it or not, had actual flare to them that made them more than just well-choreographed stunts. ***

And now we have "xXx," (pronounced "Triple X"), a titanic mess of a movie that fails to deliver what audiences have come to expect from Cohen in the way of schlock entertainment. It features a cavalcade of endless explosions, stunt work that reportedly cost the life of one of the stuntmen, and a soundtrack that pulsates through one's body like a thousand volts of electricity. And yet, why did I constantly get the notion that instead of using these elements to his advantage, Cohen is merely pumping up the volume to keep his viewers unaware of how lousy the material actually is? ***

Diesel makes his second appearance in a Cohen film as Xander Cage, a ruthless daredevil who is first seen heisting a pricey vehicle from a California senator and driving it off of a very high altitude bridge, parachuting out just before impact. His arms are covered in a variety of tattoos, and his voice is that testosterone-fueled, deep-throated, gutteral type of voice that you only hear in two places, one of which is a film like this, the other being the opposite end of the line when calling one of those 900 numbers. Diesel steps up to the challenge of playing the bad boy-turned-hero, and he does it so well that you feel a wave of reassurrance that things will only get better as they develop. ***

As the story moves on, Xander is brought into custody under one Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson), a government official who stages various elaborate setups in an attempt to test Xander's abilities under pressure. There is an early diner sequence in which Xander points out all the flaws of his counterpart's plan that plays so well because of the dynamics between the two actors; later, there is an entire sequence devoted to his capture by a Colombian drug lord that ends with Gibbons informing his new recruit just exactly what he has been singled out for. ***

His mission focuses on a secretive Russian militant named Yorgi (Marton Csokas), who is developing plans to take out the United States government with a vast arsenal of nuclear and biological weapons. All other attempts to infiltrate his castle have failed; Gibbons, believing Xander has the grunge appeal that Yorgi's followers are associated with, sends him in undercover to retrieve information regarding his future plans. ***

Along the way, "xXx" takes every chance it has to reinvent the James Bond genre, from the inclusion of the convenient female, a woman named Yelena (Asia Argento) who wants out of the dangerous business, to the various twists and turns that come once Xander's cover is blown, and he goes back for the girl anyway. The material is not without it strong points, most of which come from this revamping of a genre that has long since been dominated by the Bond franchise and its copycat efforts. And of course there's Diesel, who manages to leave the show with high marks. ***

But director Cohen and screenwriter Rich Wilkes have done their lead performer and their well-crafted material a supreme injustice in their inability to instill even a minimal amount of energy into the piece. There is no undercurrent of suspense that awaits us once things develop, no tidal wave of intensity to hold us in a vice as we watch each action sequence play out, and most shockingly of all, no sense of fun. "The Fast and the Furious" was pure contrivance, yes, but it was enjoyable in its own bad-boys-have-all-the-fun way, and in many cases, it was exciting. "xXx," with all its well-staged action and humongous explosions, carries little weight in terms of energy, and considering just how much of these sequences there are in the film, it only tends to get worse as it drones on. ***

I attribute this to two factors, the first of which is how Cohen handles these sequences. His pacing is spot-on at times, and then there are instances where he seems to be exercising a fetish for slow-motion photography, capturing his character sailing through the air on a motorbike while a giant explosion rips apart a building only inches behind him. Without this method of photography, such a scene would be supercharged and jaw-dropping, but given the fact that we watch it play out with all the dramatics of a high school theatre teacher, we have no choice but to lambast its utter ridiculousness, saying things like "No way, man," or "That's impossible." Then there is the advertising for the film, which includes a movie trailer that reveals pretty much all the goods the movie has to offer, and leaves little to the element of surprise. We catch a glimpse of all the action sequences, and in watching the movie, when we know that there is still more to come, there's no sense of uncertaintly, thus rendering our fear for the characters' lives needless. ***

Believe me, I wanted to like "xXx" as much as I liked "The Fast and the Furious," if not more. The film has all the makings of a well-rounded actioner that has been sent to the weight room to do some heavy lifting, but it appears that the only thing that will be lifted are the various damaged subwoofers from theaters after playing this film for weeks on end. "xXx" lacks the courage of its convictions in its attempts to dazzle us with setpieces and stunt work; whereas "Furious" fires on all cylinders, this one just stalls out before it's left the garage.

Despite the fact that Columbia has chosen to render this a one-disc special edition, the image transfer for "xXx" doesn't suffer much compression damage. There's some noticeable noise and some artifacts that make their presence known here and there, but other than that, everything else is top-notch. Colors are exceptionally vibrant and eye-popping, accentuated by accurate fleshtones and solid blacks that are not hampered by lacking shadow delineation. Edges are sharp with minimal enhancement artifacts, and detail is nicely rendered, especially in the action sequences and special effects (that avalanche sequence could use some touching up, though). Considering the disc space, this transfer is a worthy contender. ***

The sound is mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, and like the mix for "The Fast and the Furious," aggressive is all the rage here. Since this is an action film, it's a given that we're going to gets loads of surround usage and deep bass, coupled with incredible imaging and dynamic range; thankfully, "xXx" lives up to that promise. The action is truly immersive in its sound presentation, with several sound effects making their way into the always-active rear channels while simultaneously pumping out .1 LFE engagements that audiophiles will swoon over. Surprisingly enough, dialogue is easily audible and never overpowered, and the score from Randy Edelman gets just as much attention as everything else about the track. No, there is no DTS option, but considering that "Resident Evil" recently made its way to the Superbit format after less than six months of being a regular release, I think it's safe to say we'll be seeing and hearing from Xander Cage in the format soon enough.

The documentary "A Filmmaker's Diary," as Cohen explains in its opening, was a pre-planned feature for this DVD, for which he invited cameras to go behind-the-scenes for the 82-day shoot schedule. Despite my gripes about the movie, I did like this feature: the raw footage of the various action stunts and photography using a multitude of cameras to catch each angle is commendable, but makes me wonder why the same effect wasn't felt during the actual movie itself. The doc is divided into two sections, one covering the States-side production, the other in Prague. With some retrospective interviews to add some flavor, this is one DVD side dish that manages to please despite the lack of interest in its subject. ***

The rest of the DVD, however, fares less well. "Diesel Powered" takes a brief look at the preparation of Vin Diesel for the role of Xander Cage, with multiple interviews from the crew lauding his abilities and successes on the project. "Building Speed: The Vehicles of xXx" takes a glimpse at the Ahab and the GTO used in the film, while "Designing the World of xXx" looks at production design and stylistic influences. "The GTO is Back" is the most annoying of the four featurettes, opening with a painfully insipid car commercial you'll recognize from theater promos, and more repetitive tripe about the car used in the movie. Whoopee! ***

Then there are some visual effects vignettes, showing the progression of various captures of the avalanche sequence, complete with commentary from Digital Domain's visual effects supervisor Joel Hynek. The deleted scenes are presented in widescreen format and are rather dirty, not to mention uninteresting. The music video is what it is, and for "xXx" fans only, while the DVD-ROM content is poorly executed and hard to access (in some cases, the material, like the screenplay, isn't even there!).