xXx 2: The Next Level

If ever a film was crying out for a sequel, it certainly wasn't xXx, but that's precisely what's delivered with xXx2, a hopeless brain-dead affair which sees Ice Cube taking over from where Vin Diesel left off. After being informed that the impossibly macho character from the first movie (played by Diesel) has been killed, Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L Jackson) decides he needs another agent to play rough with the bad guys. Who does he call? Darius Stone (Ice Cube), a former soldier with a baaaaaaad attitude who likes nothing better than pushing his luck. Yawn. With the mandatory training out of the way, Stone takes on the right wing secretary of defence (Willem Dafoe, slumming it) who is planning an old fashioned coup in the White House. The reason? Why, he feels that the sitting president (Peter Strauss) isn't as tough as the international situation demands.

Still with me? You shouldn't be. A series of cliches masquerading as a script, xXx2 wheels out every second-hand action chestnut without any sense of restraint or humour. If the filmmakers had had any sense, xXx2 could have be been something of a camp delight, but the innate seriousness in dealing with the action-led hysterics means that the movie quickly becomes something of an exercise in endurance. An actor who makes Ben Affleck look positively cultured in comparison, Cube's range doesn't extend far beyond spitting out chunks of hackneyed dialogue through gritted teeth, while his tough guy attitude doesn't mask the fact that you'd find more character in an episode of Scooby Doo. And probably more sense, too.