XXX (film)

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XXX

XXX movie poster
Directed by Rob Cohen
Produced by Neal H. Moritz
Written by Rich Wilkes
Starring Vin Diesel
Asia Argento
Marton Csokas
Samuel L. Jackson
Music by Randy Edelman
Distributed by Columbia TriStar
Release date(s) August 9, 2002 (USA)
Running time 124 min.
132 min. (director's cut)
Language English
Budget $85,000,000 US (est.)
Followed by XXX: State of the Union
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

XXX (also written xXx), pronounced "Triple X", is a 2002 action movie starring Vin Diesel. XXX was marketed as a James Bond style film for the new millennium and featured similar gadgetry, international schemes and intrigues, villain-sponsored take-over-the-world schemes backed up by doomsday devices, a female co-star/love interest, and elaborate stunts (as Roger Ebert put it, "Why blow up two cars when you can blow up twenty?").

XXX was written by Rich Wilkes, directed by Rob Cohen (who also directed Diesel in 2001's The Fast and the Furious), and produced by Neal H. Moritz for Revolution Studios. Stuntman Harry L. O'Connor was killed in an accident during filming. The novelization for the movie was written by Mel Odom.

A sequel was released in 2005, titled XXX: State of the Union, starring rap artist/actor Ice Cube and Willem Dafoe.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Vin Diesel stars as Xander "XXX" Cage, an extreme sports star who gets in trouble with the law. NSA agent Augustus Gibbons (played by Samuel L. Jackson), gives him an ultimatum: carry out an undercover assignment for the U.S. government or be sent to Leavenworth Penitentiary.

Betting XXX can succeed where other conventional spies have failed, Gibbons sends him to infiltrate Anarchy 99 — an underground Russian ex-military crime ring of anarchists — undetected, using his natural athletic prowess and criminal personality.

As the story unfolds, XXX will have to stop Anarchy 99's plans to unleash Ahab, a solar-powered robotic submarine whose mission is to terminate the world's most prominent capital cities with a missing Soviet chemical WMD known as Silent Night to create global chaos and bring down all of known society.

[edit] Cast and roles

[edit] Filming locations

[edit] Xander's Gadgets

Gadget Description
Motorola Accompli Communicator Modified for 2 way Videophone Use
Multi-Purpose, Multi-Function Field Revolver Modified Smith & Wesson N-Frame Model 610 Classic with Custom Barrel and C-More Sight
Attachment Darts for MPMFFR Detura Knockout, Blood splatter & Tranquillizer, Radio Surveillance, Exploding (Bomb), Standard .44 Caliber Bullets
Eagle Eyes Enhanced Vision Binoculars, including X-Ray Mode
Dr. Bellinger's Bandages Covert concealed Primer-cord based explosive Incl. Wireless Detonator
Pontiac GTO Modified by Agent Shavers includes Ejectable Roof, Concealed personal weapons cache, hidden stinger missiles, Removable parachutes in seats, GPS navigation, Flame thrower, mini-bombs, exploding hubcaps

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack is on Universal Records.

[edit] Disc 1-The Heavy Metal Side

  1. Feuer Frei! - Rammstein
  2. Bodies (Vrenna XXX Mix) - Drowning Pool
  3. I Will Be Heard - Hatebreed
  4. Millionaire - Queens of the Stone Age
  5. Before I Die - Mushroomhead
  6. Get Up Again - Flaw
  7. Landing - Moby
  8. Adrenaline - Gavin Rossdale from Bush
  9. 004 - Fermin IV
  10. Technologicque Park - Orbital
  11. Juicy - I Mother Earth

[edit] Disc 2-The Xander Zone

  1. Stick Out Ya Wrist - Nelly featuring Toya
  2. Look At Me - Lil' Wayne
  3. Truth Or Dare - N*E*R*D featuring Kelis & Pusha T
  4. Are We Cuttin? - Pastor Troy featuring Ms. Jade
  5. Still Fly - Big Tymers
  6. Connected For Life - Mack 10 (featuring Ice Cube, WC & Butch Cassidy
  7. Lights, Camera, Action! [Club Mix] - Mr.Cheeks featuring Missy Elliott & P.Diddy
  8. I'ts Okay - Postaboy featuring Rashad & 7A
  9. Yo, Yo, Yo - Dani Stevenson
  10. Lick - Joi

[edit] Trivia

  • Before the entrance of the USA into the first World War in December 1915, a German agent was seized named Triple X.[citation needed] He had hidden bombs on running out ammunition transporters, which had not detonated however in American ports.{{fact}
  • In the first scene when NSA Agent McGrath is changing into a tuxedo, and Viktor and Kolya arrive, if you look carefully, you can see Kolya wearing a Rammstein T-shirt before McGrath escaped into the Rammstein concert.
  • The first few minutes of the movie take place in a Rammstein concert in Prague. The same clip is available, but from the band's perspective (with only brief scenes from the movie) in their video compilation Lichtspielhaus.
  • One of the tattoos on Xander Cage reads "Melkor," the name of one of Diesel's old Dungeons & Dragons player characters, and is one of the names of Morgoth, the master of Sauron and the original evil spirit in the world of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, and greater Arda.
  • When Xander first enters the club where he hands over the list of cars, the theme song from The Third Man (1949) is being played on a zither.
  • Tony Hawk makes a cameo appearance in the Corvette scene from the bottom of the bridge driving the getaway Cadillac, (near the beginning of the movie) and skating over a half-pipe at Xander's place later. Mike Vallely also makes a cameo as a cameraman and an extra. Rick Thorne, pro BMX rider, is in the back seat of the Cadillac driven by Tony Hawk. Matt Hoffman, pro BMX rider, exchanges lines with Xander durring the party scene.
  • Employees of the NSA performing espionage operations is a fictional aspect of the National Security Agency; as the NSA is responsible for code-breaking and intercepting and analyzing signal transmission, not physical operations. (This misconception is common in fiction)
  • Although not explicitly stated in the movie, director Rob Cohen stated within an audio commentary track for the DVD release that the antagonist, Yorgi, was meant to be an anarchist (or a rather negative portrayal of one,) and alluded to the other members of Anarchy 99 as being anarchists as well.

[edit] Director's Cut

The Director's Cut of the DVD was released with about ten minutes of additional footage and sneak peeks at the sequel. There are additional scenes that foreshadowed Xander as a hero and a longer stripper-in-the-bedroom sequence. In addition to this material, the DVD contains a film short with Vin Diesel's voice dubbed in as an actor is seen from behind that shows how Xander died.

[edit] The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage

This short film was a special feature on the Director's Cut of the DVD. It included Leila Arcieri, who had under thirty seconds of screentime in the film as "Jordan King", along with John G. Connolly as "Lt. Alabama 'Bama' Cobb", one of the henchmen from the sequel, XXX: State of the Union.

Basically the short film ties up the loose ends, albeit not very neatly, from the first film and ties into the beginning of the sequel. A special ops team, wearing identical uniforms to the special ops team in opening scene in the sequel, track down Xander Cage who happens to be on a date with a new girl. The team tricks Cage into entering a building they have rigged to explode. Cage, being the hero, enters the building in the hopes of rescuing his date. Unfortunately, he meets a rather gruesome demise, to which Lt. Cobb arrives on the scene to verify Cage's death.

[edit] External links

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