When a movie knows that it is ridiculous and embraces that to the max, spread it with cheese and throw in everything that adds to the dope factor to its main character, it is surprisingly enjoyable.
And that, in a nutshell, was xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage. Nothing about the character, the plot or the things that Vin Diesel's character had to do, made sense.
I honestly had no idea what was going on with each plot development, and just took the exposition as they came, accept without any comprehension, and then move on to the next scene.
But what the movie really had going for it was a strong and capable cast, with a director who knows how to showcase each of those cast members.
The acting was not top-notched though a few did stand out. As the second Hollywood and English speaking movie for Donnie Yen, I thought he was fantastic. Together with Tony Jaa, they provided some legit hand-to-hand fight scenes that would rival any Eastern martial arts movies.
Caruso also stayed away from shaky camera works and really focused on and highlighted Yen and Jaa doing their thing.
The ladies also surprised me as none of them felt like they were there because they had a pretty face. Deepika Padukone spoke her lines like she meant it, Ruby Rose could be another legit action female star. But Nina Dobrev was the best one out of the bunch. Who knew she could play that geeky tech support and shed off "The Vampire Diaries" teenage angst. Go ahead, Hollywood, put her in more movies.
The weakest link was probably Kris Wu but somehow he fit his character well enough to not detract too much onscreen for me; other than when he spoke because I could not understand half of it.
I believe what made this work was also that team factor. This xXx has become more like Mission: Impossible but with Diesel in the lead.
But as what it was meant to be, Caruso made it work. I would not mind seeing another one with the same team.
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