Film Review: XXX Return of Xander Cage

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Cert: 12A

Director: D.J. Caruso

Screen writer: Rich Wilkes (based on characters created by),  F. Scott Frazier

Starring: Vin Diesel , Donnie Yen , Deepika Padukone , Kris Wu , Ruby Rose , Tony Jaa , Nina Dobrev , Rory McCann ,  Toni Collette  , Samuel L. Jackson , Ice Cube , Hermione Corfield , Tony Gonzalez , Michael Bisping , Michael Bisping , Al Sapienza

Running time: 1h 47min

Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity: Sex scene no nudity , sex was implied 

Violence & Gore: Moderate portrayals of violence with some details are featured, albeit justified by context.

The film contains frequent action scenes which involve unarmed combat as well as exchange of gunfire.

Some of the sequences are prolonged with the characters exchanging multiple blows.

The stronger scenes include one portraying a man being shot in the head; another scene showing a man swinging his motorcycle to hit his enemies in their faces; as well as an extended sequence where the characters exchange gunfire repeatedly.

These scenes are shown with quick cuts of action and little details of bloodletting.

As such, they can be contained for a teen audience.

Profanity: The word "f**k" is featured, albeit used infrequently.

The film contains a scene where a character utters "This is f**king awesome" in a moment of excitement. 

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: Drink at a club

Frightening/Intense Scenes:  'XXX: The Return Of Xander Cage' is the third installment in the film franchise that centers around special agents trained in the XXX program. When a doomsday weapon is stolen, Xander is persuaded to come out of retirement and assembles a team to retrieve it.

Official MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of gun play and violent action, and for sexual material and language.

Story: Extreme athlete turned government operative Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) comes out of self-imposed exile, thought to be long dead, and is set on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior Xiang (Donnie Yen) and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora's Box. Recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments.

Likes : I know alot of the reviews for this film are bad & a little negative but i will be honest most of them are justified , why you ask me? well don't get me wrong i love the first film its had a straight forward direction you knew who the bad guys we're which took the story from in a simple easy to follow film.

Sadly the sequel xxx next level was Shockley bad , they should've just made the sequel a Vin Diesel one. Not that ice cube didn't do a great job it just fella little short of impact from the first film. That said this one is no different as it's got some flaws that doesn't bring the film down completely but just make it a popcorn movie that ok .

The stunt work is brilliantly done, the acting is seemly good in places , Donnie yen is awesome in his action scene which are slightly let down which i will explain in the dislikes. If i was to compare this film to the first film Vin Diesel did i would say the first film was better.
Which is a shame because having Vin back as xander cage was an awesome idea , yet the way this film has been done was a slight letdown which under-performed in it's on story.

Don't get me wrong this film is a typical popcorn film won't win any Oscar's but it was still an entertaining  film to watch. But the one thing this film didnt have was the impact thee first film had as it lets its self down in area. I will admit this film could've been better with this casting choice as it was great choices of actress/actors in the film , although the film is great in some areas we're its funny other area no so much.

If you like the first too film's you may like this one, but i would expect much from it as area of this film we're a let down.

Dislikes : Problem's with this film with the flaws:

• 1. This is the main problem of the story is who the hell is the villain ? See the first xxx film we had one clear direction where xander had to take down anarchy 99 ,  which gave the film a clear direction to go in. Here in this film there are too many villain's point the film lose's it identity doesn't have the clear direction , it didn't need this many villains it only need one to give the film a purpose's. 

• 2. The film try's to take it self too serious when you have comical one liners being thrown around , this is a bad move for a film , because the joke come off bad on screen and the one liners feel off timing which puts the film off balance.

• 3. This is the biggest peeve i have with film's today when thy use the shaky camera sh*t. Why for the love of god did the director have this stupid shaky camera effect all the way through the dam film in the action scenes ?
  
  Seriously this is what brings this film down because every dam action scene you could barely see what going on , special Donnie yen fight scenes who is a fantastic fighter on screen his scene we're completely ruin with the shaky camera. This seriously is the biggest flaw in this film.

• 4. There are moment in this film that complete looked fake on screen , this is why the first xxx film worked because it used stunts that were real.
  
  This film feel completely rushed & lazy using C.G.I effect's because they could be bothered to film it right. Not to mention a big plot hole: where the hell is Yelena from the first xxx film ? not one mention of her in the film , it like the director hasn't even watch the first film to actually have this mention in the film. 

Overall : Nothing more that a popcorn film , nothing special , the first film was better

Rating: 5 out of 5 for entertainment / 6.8 out of 10 concept