xXx (2002)
xXx is a 2002 action movie directed by Rob Cohen, with a running time of 2h 4m. It stars Vin Diesel, Asia Argento and Marton Csokas.
Xander Cage is an extreme-sports outlaw who films himself stealing senators' cars and jumping off bridges. The NSA decides his rap sheet makes him the perfect deniable agent and drops him into Prague to infiltrate Yorgi, an anarchist running a Cold War arsenal. Rob Cohen shoots it like a music video: snowboard chases, a converted GTO, gadgets played straight-faced. Vin Diesel headlines as a spy who would rather blow something up than blend in, with Asia Argento and Samuel L. Jackson alongside. It swaps tuxedos and martinis for tattoos and stunts.
Quick answers
What is xXx about?
Xander Cage is an extreme-sports outlaw who films himself stealing senators' cars and jumping off bridges. The NSA decides his rap sheet makes him the perfect deniable agent and drops him into Prague to infiltrate Yorgi, an anarchist running a Cold War arsenal. Rob Cohen shoots it like a music video: snowboard chases, a converted GTO, gadgets played straight-faced. Vin Diesel headlines as a spy who would rather blow something up than blend in, with Asia Argento and Samuel L. Jackson alongside. It swaps tuxedos and martinis for tattoos and stunts.
When was xXx released?
xXx was released on 9 August 2002.
How long is xXx?
xXx runs 2h 4m.
Who made xXx?
xXx was directed by Rob Cohen.
Where can I watch xXx?
xXx is available on Hoopla, Kanopy, Amazon, AppleTV and Fandango at Home.
Where to watch xXx
Rent: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home
Buy: Fandango at Home
Official site
Cast
- Vin Diesel as Xander Cage
- Asia Argento as Yelena
- Marton Csokas as Yorgi
- Samuel L. Jackson as Agent Augustus Gibbons
- Michael Roof as Agent Toby Lee Shavers
- Richy Müller as Milan Sova
- Werner Daehn as Kirill
- Petr Jákl as Kolya
- Jan Filipenský as Viktor
- Tom Everett as Senator Dick Hotchkiss
- Danny Trejo as El Jefe
- Thomas Ian Griffith as Agent Jim McGrath
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A few thoughts on xXx
The extreme-sports-meets-espionage energy fits the open-world game Just Cause, where a lone agent parachutes into a dictatorship and levels it with a grappling hook. For sandbox mayhem in the same key, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas hands you a whole state to tear across at full throttle. Both share the film's taste for spectacle over subtlety.
Extreme-sports action heroes who trade tuxedos for real stunts
xXx never lets Xander Cage near a tux, he snowboards into an arsenal instead, and this set keeps chasing the same rush. Fast Five and F9 turn the Fast Saga into pure stunt spectacle, Point Break sends an undercover agent into the same extreme-sports world Xander came from, Need for Speed races the same nitrous-fueled chaos onto public highways, and Death Proof lets a muscle car do the killing.
Gadget-driven spy missions that still play the danger straight
xXx swaps martinis for mayhem but keeps its hero on a real deniable mission. Spectre and Mission: Impossible - Fallout send an agent chasing a shadow network with nothing but field gear. Jason Bourne runs the same off-book operative through hostile territory, The Amateur turns a grieving analyst into a one-man op, and Heart of Stone hands its agent a mission no handler will admit exists.
Cold War spy thrillers built around a hidden weapons cache
Xander's mission in xXx is built around tracking down an anarchist's Cold War arsenal before it reaches the world, and these vintage thrillers run the same hunt. Funeral in Berlin and Topaz send agents chasing secrets across a divided Europe, The Satan Bug turns a stolen bioweapon into its ticking clock, Avalanche Express and Russkies stage Cold War standoffs, and Hot Enough for June plays the same game for laughs.
Open-world games about outlaws who make their own rules
xXx recruits Xander Cage straight off a rap sheet of stunts and fast cars, and these games hand you that same freedom. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V turn whole cities into a playground for the same chaos, Just Cause drops an agent into a country to wreck however he likes, and Red Dead Redemption 2 lets an outlaw live by his own code.