I will admit to going to watch xXx with my kids. Ahem...for the technical apsects of course. First I really enjoyed the stunts that they pulled off. Ok I am a sucker for rowdy action flicks with killer live stunts. Which xXx delivered on. If you are going to watch an Academy Award winner, well go see Road to Perdition. Which mark my words, Paul Newman will win an Oscar for his performance. Flat out some of his best work ever.

What was really cool was the Vette being driven off the bridge. Xander (Vin Diesel) had his team strap what looked to be Sony PD150's (or so I thought...could have been VX2000) to the car for stunt video. It is a great sequence. They only showed a portion of the footage, which bummed me out. Still was a nice touch.

Another great sequence was the motorcycle stunt pulled off in the Columbian drug compound. Talk about nailing it in one take, the crew delivered.

On an action movie scale of 1-10 I give xXx a 7.15. The acting and story could have been stronger. Yes I know it's star was Vin Diesel, who I actually thought did a good job. It was the rest of the cast who lacked any punch. As for the camera work, I enjoyed the angles but hated the in and out of focus of different scenes. That style tends to drive me nuts.

So if you like action, this is worth seeing on the big screen.

xXx was directed by Rob Cohen of Point Break/The Fast and the Furious fame. He always produces in the effects/stunts departments but the stories are usually thin. But like you said, you only go to a movie like this for the action.

Point break was actually directed by kathryn bigelow, although the fast and the furious was about as direct a remake as you could get. I have only caught part of FATF at work, but for a film about speed, it sure was slooooooooooow.

Can't say that I've ever been impressed by any of rob cohens previous work myself, but I do like vin diesel. He's a worthy successor to the hard man in a vest role that bruce willis used to play before he got too old.

Adrian

ah like them directors what blow stuff up a lot
an that car the bald feller had sure wuz purdy

yep