XXX is based on a moderately clever premise: that James Bond is out of style and a new, rougher-and-tougher kind of international agent is needed to defeat the evil masterminds of the modern era. So instead of a suave, tuxedo-wearing, martini-sipping 007, XXX proposes a new hero: tattooed, muscular "bad boy" Xander Cage (Vin Diesel), whose talents for extreme stunts gain him the attention of the NSA. A little arm-twisting, a little blackmail, and Xander (or "X") is drafted into a mission to infiltrate a shadowy organization known as Anarchy 99.

Despite all its action sequences, XXX is a relatively slow-paced film. The first third or so of the story focuses on getting X into place as a spy; this part is moderately entertaining, and is the most creative section of the film in terms of storytelling. The central third of the film puts X smack in the middle of a Bond movie; the Anarchy 99 thugs are instantly recognizable as classic Bond Villains, complete with a Bond Girl and an Underground Lair (tm). (Oh, and one of the evil gadgets of the supervillains is a solar-powered submarine. No, really! Stop laughing!) It's best not to think too hard about exactly what the Evil Plan of these bad guys is; just take it on face value that it's going to have very nasty consequences for the average guy on the street. After some mildly entertaining shenanigans, the story rolls to a reasonably decent conclusion... except that there's 40 minutes of running time left. Oops. That leaves us with the last third of the film, devoted to adding more action to the film in the form of a conclusive show-down with the villains.

It may seem odd to criticize an action movie for too much action, but really that's the main problem of XXX. It's a question of relative proportions. When you're exposed to a high level of something – anything – you eventually get used to it. Crank up the heart-pounding music to the max, and after a while it just feels like the normal level. Season your entire meal with hot chili peppers, and after a few bites your taste buds will get deadened to it. And in the case of an action film, if you have truly non-stop action, it eventually palls. A high jump through burning buildings? Yawn. A fast-paced gun battle? Yeah, whatever.

In order to be truly exciting, an action film has to measure out periods of relative "inaction" (when the story is moving forward, of course, but not in physical action scenes) with the "action" sequences, as well as carefully rationing out the length of the action scenes themselves so that the viewer is always excited and never oversaturated. That's where XXX fumbles. The action sequences crowd each other, and each one goes on too long. The first stunt scene involving X and a stolen car is by far the most memorable in the entire film, in no small part because it stands out from the scenes around it, and it's early in the film and the viewer isn't overwhelmed yet. Unfortunately, the film tries to achieve greater effects later on by ramping up the volume too much, too soon. Individual scenes that should have been spectacular, like an early sequence involving an attack on a Columbian drug factory, go on so long that the viewer's attention wanders. XXX tries to overcome that saturation not by backing off and letting the viewer digest, but by piling even more stunts on. Motorcycle stunts! Parachuting! Snowboarding! Explosives! You name it, it's probably shoehorned in here somewhere.

This is not to say that XXX is a bad film. It's moderately entertaining, though considerably too long; trimmed to 95 minutes or so, it could have been quite a decent movie. There's some fun in the premise of the "new" Bond, and I found the frequent references to video games to be amusing as well.

This release of XXX is labeled as the "Uncensored Unrated Director's Cut." If you're a fan, I really wouldn't get your hopes up. The extra footage totals a whopping eight minutes. I can't say definitively where the extra footage is inserted, as I haven't seen the theatrical cut (sorry, fans, but this movie just isn't good enough for me to want to watch it twice; I barely made it through the first time). There are a few shots of gratuitously writhing, scantily-clad (or unclad) women that might be considered a little risqué, but nothing that's really notable.

The DVD

XXX: Uncensored Unrated Director's Cut is a two-disc set, packaged in a single-wide keepcase.

Video

XXX appears in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and is anamorphically enhanced. Overall, I found it to be an attractive transfer, though one that never really knocked me out in terms of image quality. It's generally clean and attractive. There's some manipulation of the color palette at various points in the film, but it doesn't add a whole lot to the visual impact of the film. Contrast is handled reasonably well; some edge enhancement is present, but not too much.

Audio

Though its sheer volume does get a bit numbing after a while, the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack of XXX does its job well, with plenty of punch in the action scenes and decent use of the surround channels for an immersive effect. A Dolby 5.1 track is also provided in Spanish and French; subtitles in English, French, and Spanish are included as well.

Extras

There's considerable overlap between the special features of this release and those of the earlier, theatrical cut DVD. This DVD has a few features that are new, but it also drops one of the more interesting features from the other release (the deleted scenes).

The features that are ported over from the DVD of the theatrical cut include the commentary by director Rob Cohen, which I found it to be fairly bland. There are some interesting tidbits here, but it's really just for the die-hard fans. Other repeated special features include the moderately interesting making-of piece "XXX: A Filmmaker's Diary" (40 minutes); a section on "Visual Effects How-Tos" that shows how three stunt scenes were made, with optional commentary; the "Adrenaline" music video; and a handful of short featurettes: "Building Speed: The Vehicles of XXX," "Designing the World of XXX," and "Diesel Powered."

The new features are mainly fluff. On the first DVD, we get a 14-minute promotional piece on the "Making of XXX," and the option to watch the exploding barn and bridge jump stunts from multiple angles. There's also a three-minute "sneak peek" of XXX: State of the Union and a minute-and-a-half scene from early in that film, obviously designed to entice viewers of the original XXX to watch the upcoming sequel. Trailers for XXX: State of the Union, D.E.B.S., and Full Throttle are also tucked into Disc 1.

New material on Disc 2 includes one more short featurette, "Agent Shaver's Gadget Presentation" (4 minutes), storyboards for the avalanche scene and the drug farm, and a music video for "I Will Be Heard" by Hatefarm. Mysteriously, there's also a three-minute piece that's labeled as "The End Credit Sequence: Raw and Uncut." This would suggest that it's somehow different from what's in the film itself, but I couldn't detect any difference. I suppose it gives viewers the chance to re-watch the psychedelic graphics on their own if desired.

The one new special feature that will probably most pique the interest of fans of the film is a piece titled "The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander." As far as I can tell, this is intended to explain, in some way, the fact that Vin Diesel is not starring in the XXX sequel; it strikes me as rather a bad move to gratuitously kill off a perfectly good character in a cheesy four-minute clip, but I suppose if they ever want Diesel back, they can always pull something out of a hat. In any case, this "Final Chapter" is rather a let-down. Xander is played not by Diesel but by Diesel's stunt-man, so there's no actual dialogue by Xander and no shots of Xander's face. It's also, frankly, rather lame.

Final thoughts

If you're just interested in a no-brains-required action movie, it doesn't much matter which version of XXX you watch, though since my main criticism is that it's too long, you're probably better off with the slightly shorter theatrical cut. XXX isn't terrible, but there are many better action films out there (including better films with Vin Diesel), so this is probably best as a rental if you've exhausted other options; it does have the merit of offering a slightly interesting take on the whole Bond genre of spy films. If you're a fan of the film, I certainly would not bother double-dipping for a lousy eight minutes and some additional fluffy promotional-style special features; the theatrical DVD has all the major goodies plus the deleted scenes that are missing from this release. If you want to buy XXX but haven't picked up either version, it's your call, but I'd probably just go with the theatrical cut. Overall, this film merits a "rent it" recommendation.