xXx: Return of Xander Cage| Reviews (by Indian Critics)

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xXx: Return of Xander Cage

Rating:

January 13, 2016

Cast: Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Tony Jaa, Ruby Rose, Michael Bisping, Toni Colette, Samuel L Jackson

Director: DJ Caruso

Deepika Padukone's instinct for picking the right films has served her well lately, and there's a good chance that'll extend to her first Hollywood film too, namely xXx: Return of Xander Cage.

Frankly the film isn't great, or even particularly memorable. But it's a terrific showcase for Deepika's captivating presence, her agility in demanding action scenes, and above all, her blazing confidence. What about her performance, you ask? Well, to be fair, she could pull this off with her eyes closed.

Which is why it's heartening to note that she doesn't. From the bumper sticker dialogue to the stray moments of emotion, Deepika approaches the job with schoolgirl sincerity and a seriousness that you don't usually find in this kind of film.

Mercifully you needn't remember what happened in the last two xXx outings to follow the plot of this one. Vin Diesel returns in the role of Xander Cage, extreme sports enthusiast-turned-government operative who was presumed dead in an earlier mission but is conveniently discovered to be alive and promptly recruited by a CIA big-shot (Toni Colette) to recover a coveted weapon of mass destruction that's been stolen by a gang of highly skilled troublemakers. Deepika plays Serena, a member of that fearless gang, who tangles with Xander.

It's a simplistic plot, and one that shrewdly allows for a diverse cast, presumably so the film can appeal to a global audience. But only a few - particularly Chinese actor Donnie Yen, and Deepika - are rewarded with anything resembling a real character. The rest are all reduced to stereotypes: Thai action star Tony Jaa is the Asian comic, Australian actress Ruby Rose the tough chick, Bulgaria-born Nina Dobrev the pretty nerd.

Curiously, the film recycles many of the same themes from Diesel's more popular Fast and Furious franchise: a distrust of authority figures, the murky motives of government agencies, and the idea that one's team is one's family. But the parallels don't end there. Like those films, the plot of xXx 3 takes the characters on a globe-hopping tour, plus there's an endless buffet of next-to-naked women permanently throwing themselves at Diesel, and hey, even some of the stunts look familiar - chief among those, a daring freefall from an airplane.

Hardcore action fans are unlikely to complain however. There's a nice scrappy feel to the chase sequences, particularly one in which Diesel pursues Yen in the direction of oncoming traffic and on the roofs of speeding cars and buses. But director DJ Caruso doesn't restrict the heavy lifting to the men, giving the girls equal opportunity to fire heavy artillery, deliver kicks and punches, and chase after their rivals. Occasionally the shaky camera shooting style might set off a migraine, and it's a shame the film doesn't give us much by way of a solid villain.

What it does offer is a leading man who is evidently enjoying himself. Diesel plays Xander with a lightness of touch, despite all the wall-to-wall fight scenes. It's a casual, throwaway performance, more relaxed than his turn as Dom Toretto in the Fast and Furious movies. But the real pleasure of this film is Deepika Padukone. Whether landing a perfect split in her very first moment on screen, or delivering her lines without a hint of affectation or accent, she makes a lasting impression.

xXx: Return of Xander Cage is only moderately entertaining. But for the sheer pride of watching our girl add another feather to her cap, it's worth a watch. I'm going with two-and-a-half out of five.

(This review first aired on CNN News18)

Movie Reviews

If you are a Deepika Padukone loyalist, watch xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage for her, advises Raja Sen.

One has to feel at least a bit sorry for Vin Diesel.

Diesel, following franchises like xXx and The Fast And The Furious, represented a new kind of mainstream action hero: a lunk-headed leading man, a swiss-army-knife of brains and brawn.

He'd rappel down the skyscraper, punch out a squad of guys, and get the last word in edgeways.

However, Diesel was always hard to watch if his script included more than three words of dialogue -- with three words he is, as we know, immaculate -- and he was soon overtaken at his own game by such big-screen titans as Dwayne The Rock' Johnson, a man with enough screen presence and swagger to make the universe giggle.

Now Diesel looks like the me-too player, and nowhere as cool as the big guy. If he was a rapper he'd be called Little Dwayne.

xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage is one of those obviously harebrained actioners, a film that isn't scripted as much as enacted out with action figures.

However, just like diverse communities are thrilled to see racially diverse Barbie dolls that represent them better, we here have Deepika Padukone stepping up as the edgy tough desi, who wears dominatrix boots on a beach, shoots straight and -- this must be said -- talks like she wants a job at the Kwik-E-Mart.

Padukone always spoke differently from her peers.

In an old profile I'd done, (external link) I had singled out the way she "pronounces her apostrophes," and in her Hollywood debut, the actress -- who has enough screen presence to drown in -- turns up both the heat and the accent. Out West she's evidently chosen to amp up her exoticity, and this might not be a bad move. Her character Serena is basically a Bond girl.

Which is why it's a shame this kickassery takes place in a film that exists purely in manservice, a film so beholden to its leading man that not just do dozens of women throw themselves voluntarily on the oaf, but bad guys have trouble sl*gging him off.

At one point someone with a gun to his head insults him by calling him -- um -- 'Hero.'

Everything comes up Diesel so often in this film I was wondering what would happen if a Bollywood-pampered actor like, say, Ajay Devgn watched it, not least because Diesel and Padukone have a scene showing each other various lion tattoos. Playing Singham-Singham, basically.

The film is a string of stunts, and if you haven't watched an xXx film before, dear lucky reader, suffice it to say that it's like one of Akshay Kumar's endless string of Khiladi movies, save for the charismatic hero and the annoyingly catchy songs.

Diesel's Xander is a daredevil who knows it all, having gotten his start zipping around being cool on a skateboard -- like a follicly challenged McFly.

Now, he and various other talents, apparently too cool for jailtime, must save the world and take orders from -- you guessed it -- Samuel L Jackson.

Starting up, I thought this xXx might actually be a breeze, thanks to the one and only Toni Collette channeling Posh Spice to play the villain, but she's weighed down by a 3D film where unmemorable action sequences drown out her superbly sardonic eyebrow tilts.

While on the 3D, it shamefully renders Donnie Yen's blindingly cool fight scenes redundant, since even though the actor is doing em for real, they feel computer generated and synthetic.

If you are a Padukone loyalist, watch it for her.

Watch it for her on a bigger canvas than she's been on, and for an Australian actress named Ruby Rose, who looks lethal the way only those with turquoise-tinged hair can, and for the two of them going down a hallway with guns in hand, badass girls going full metal Contra.

There are times when director DJ Caruso's camera seems to stare too long at Padukone, and at the intensity in her fiery eyes. Can't blame him. It might not be a fine film, but our Badass Indian Barbie did good in this cheesy action-figure extravaganza.

Diesel just gets in the way -- probably because Padukone is electric.

Rediff Rating: