xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (2017)

Director: DJ Caruso
Starring: Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone

Synopsis:
Xander Cage is called back into service after a trio of irregular agents capture a codebreaker that can hijack satellites.

Impressions:
I thought the first film did some clever things shaking up the spy movie formula, but when they didn't get Vin Diesel for the sequel, I didn't think they should've bothered. I had no real interest in watching this initially, but because it was conveniently made available to me, I gave it a shot. I didn't realize I was going to get to see Vin Diesel go head-to-head with Donnie Yen. I still may not have paid for a movie ticket to go see it, but it would've been more prominently on my radar. If you like the sort of creative action that blends extreme sports that was featured in the original, then you should enjoy this too. While I never bothered to watch the second movie and am entirely ambivalent to it, I do think it's a nice gesture that they didn't retcon the film and even gave Ice Cube some props. Usually less favored entries in a series aren't shown that much consideration. There's a good ensemble cast to accompany the action and all told, I think it's worth a watch.

Rating:
Watch It