'xXx: Return of Xander Cage' Movie Review

​Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   xXx: Return of Xander Cage is directed by D.J. Caruso, and it stars Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, and Rory McCann. It’s the third film in the xXx series, and it follows Xander Cage as he attempts to stop a conspiracy to hack all of the satellites orbiting the Earth. This is a film that from the trailers looks to be absolutely over-the-top and ridiculous. But is it actually good?

​   This is a difficult film to review accurately. That’s because it would be extremely easy to tear this movie apart. From the gaping plot holes to the absurd premise, to even things as trivial as the extremely noticeable green screens, from a critical perspective this film is atrocious. However, if the purpose of a film is to be entertaining to the audience (which I believe it is), then xXx: Return of Xander Cage gets a thumbs up from me. This film, while it has all of those flaws I mentioned, was a lot of fun to watch.
   The film has many, many flaws, but the action sequences were not one of them. In fact, the action scenes in this film are a lot of what made it a really enjoyable film to watch. Yes, they were over-the-top, they were absurd, and they were unrealistic, but they were incredibly entertaining. It became fun to see how crazy these scenes got. The introduction action scene to Vin Diesel’s character concluded much differently than I was expecting, and while it was a little silly, it was also original and clever.
   The best part about this movie, by far, was Donnie Yen, whom you may recognize as Chirrut Imwe, the blind character from Rogue One. He is a huge action star in China, and in this film, he proves why. Pretty much everything about this film is ridiculous, but Donnie Yen fits extremely well into that. All of his action sequences in this film have him doing absolutely ludicrous things, but he sells them extremely well. You believe that he is actually doing these things! Every time he was on screen, the movie got significantly more interesting, especially when he was fighting people. I really hope that we see more of Donnie Yen in the future because he is an extremely charismatic and truly entertaining actor.
   As for basically everything else about this film, it’s really stupid. It’s cliché, predictable, and makes absolutely zero sense. This film, in many ways, is the pure definition of a big dumb Hollywood blockbuster. The kind that a lot of Indie film directors rant about. This film is mindless action surrounded by a weak plot, bad performances (save for Yen), and even worse visual effects. In all honesty, I have not seen the other two films in the xXx series, but if there anything like this, I’m surprised they made it to a third film at all.
   Above all of that, though, this film is a lot of fun. If you go into this film, turn off your brain a little bit and just take the movie for what it is, you can really enjoy watching this film. If you expect this film to be the smart action Bourne Identity type film, you’ll be let down immensely. In some ways, Return of Xander Cage reminds of the hilariously over-the-top short film Kung Fury that's on Netflix. It’s absurd, but it’s entertaining absurdity.
   If you’re looking to just have a fun time watching an action movie at the theater, I would recommend xXx: Return of Xander Cage. The action scenes in this film were extremely entertaining, and Donnie Yen proves that he is can be a great action star. It does have a lot of issues narratively and on basically every other front, but once again, if the purpose of the film was to entertain its audience. Mission accomplished.

6.5/10

​   So what did you think of xXx: Return of Xander Cage? Was it a little too over-the-top for your tastes? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter! It really helps! Don’t forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and miscellaneous movie thoughts!
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