There was a time when the action movie XXX seemed like the cutting edge of entertainment… sort of. Rob Cohen’s 2002 thriller was a riffed on the James Bond franchise which, prior to the Daniel Craig reboot, was considered something of a relic at the multiplex. The world needed a hip new hero who listened to heavy metal and had tattoos and snowboarded down a mountain after blowing up the top of that mountain for some reason. They needed Vin Diesel… sort of.
The original XXX was a respectable hit in 2002, grossing $277 million worldwide off of a $70 million budget. But the sequel, XXX: State of the Union, was a non-starter, grossing a mere $71 million just three years later. The fact that the filmmakers replaced Vin Diesel with Ice Cube, whose on-screen persona wasn’t as edgy as it used to be, didn’t help matters.
For years, the only time people seemed to talk about a third XXX movie was when one of the filmmakers brought it up as something they’d like to make someday. A lot of movies are like that. People keep bringing up a Goonies sequel like it’s actually going to happen, but the odds are very good that it never, ever will. The zeitgeist has just plain ended for most of those films. But this January we really are getting another sequel to XXX, and today we have actual proof. There’s a trailer and everything.
Vin Diesel revealed the trailer for XXX: Return of Xander Cage (a title which really should have the word “the” in it) earlier today, on his Facebook page. Watching this preview, it’s easy to be taken aback by just how retro it seems nowadays. By waiting so very long to make another XXX this franchise seems to have become the very type of nostalgia throwback that the original XXX was specifically made to combat.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s pretty damned ironic, isn’t it?
Top Photo: Paramount Pictures
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved, Rapid Reviews and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
