Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageXXX2: The Next Level (2005)
Director: Lee Tamahori
Movie review
From Time Out London
The game-related subtitle suggests Lee Tamahori and crew want us to believe that they always intended this flash-bang sequel to be a pastiche of the original. That may be, but what they forgot is that a computer game allows the viewer to interact with what’s happening on screen and then switch it off at will. Here, all we can do is fiddle with our watches in between laughing at the vapid banality of the film’s dialogue and gawping at the absurdity of it all. The premise, especially, is an extreme jaw-dropper.America’s clandestine National Security Agency, presided over by Samuel L Jackson’s operations agent, is infiltrated by a secret army of assailants armed with sci-fi weaponry and dressed up like ‘Splinter Cell’ game icon Sam Fisher. Enter replacement agent XXX2 (Ice Cube), who steps in to Vin Diesel’s trainers to kick some political ass and – with the aid of a small army of bling-bling brethren and their pimp mobiles – save America from a Secretary of Defense (Willem Dafoe) who is secretly plotting against an increasingly pacifist President. Tamahori’s a dab hand at directing OTT action sequences, but here the Bond-like forays are taken to new heights of ridiculousness. And besides, Cube’s too pudgy to be leaping off buildings like that.
Author: DA
Time Out London Issue 1810: April 27-May 04 2005
Cast & crew
Director: Lee Tamahori
Producer: Neal H Moritz, Arne Schmidt
Cast: Ice Cube, Samuel L Jackson, Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman, Peter Strauss, Sunny Mobrey, Nona Gaye, Xzibit full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Thrillers
Rated: 12A
Duration: 100 mins
UK Release: Apr 29 2005
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
What do you think?
Post your review now