If James Bond is the epitome of British intelligence, then Xander Cage is the US reply.

xXx is cool. That’s all there is to it.

Vin Diesel plays Xander Cage, an extreme sports star / adrenaline junkie who likes to go just a little too far with his political statements. Samuel L. Jackson plays NSA Agent Gibbons, a man trying to stop a rebel group in Prague that wants to unleash biological weapons on the world.

The problem is, standard NSA field agents can’t seem to penetrate this “underground culture” that the anarchists seem to be a part of. They stick out like sore thumbs and get killed. So what’s the obvious answer? That’s right, fight fire with fire. Recruit someone already on the inside of this underground culture.

But how? Easy - kidnap a bunch of known criminals and other miscreants, throw them unwillingly into a bunch of scenarios, and the last man standing will get sent on the mission.

Okay, so the recruitment part of things leaves a few plot holes. So does the rest. That’s not the point here - it’s an action movie.

The point is, everything they do in this movie is cool. Stunts are done bigger, better, faster. There are avalanches, car chases, skydivers… everything you hoped for is here.

Plus, Vin Diesel was made to be an action star. This guy rocks. He’s just got a certain badass presence, sort of like The Rock, Bruce Willis, and Clint Eastwood. There’s something about the guy that screams “Don’t fuck with me.” He was great in this movie, and I honestly can’t wait to see the next movie he’s in. (Note: I was not a big fan ofThe Fast and the Furiousbut admit that there was a certain amount of entertainment value there.)

Asia Argento played Yelena, a sort of love interest for Vin Diesel, but aside from looking really good, I don’t know what to say about her. She was the equivalent of a Bond girl - there, but not terribly prominent.

Anyway, I highly recommend this one. I’ll definitely get it when it comes out on DVD. I did buy the soundtrack this weekend - a two-disc set - and it’s cool, too.

I am a huge James Bond fan. I love all of those movies (except the ones with Timothy Dalton). I can only hope that they go where I think they’re going with this movie and make it into an ongoing spy-action series. Not just lame sequels, but decent, entertaining, standalone films. If they do it right, it’ll rock.