XXX: Return of Xander Cage

XXX: Return of Xander Cage (released as xXx: Reactivated in some countries and xXx: World Domination (Мировое Господство) in Russia) is a 2017 American action film directed by D. J. Caruso and written by F. Scott Frazier. The film stars Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Kris Wu, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, Toni Collette, Ariadna Gutiérrez, Hermione Corfield, and Samuel L. Jackson. It is the third installment in the xXx film series and a sequel to both XXX (2002) and mh:awfulmovies:XXX: State of the Union (2005). The film premiered in Mexico City on January 5, 2017, and Paramount Pictures, who took over a distribution from Columbia Pictures, released the film on January 20, 2017, in the United States.

Plot
12 years after the events of the second movie, 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.

Why Xander Cage Returns

 * 1) It's a decent improvement over the second predecessor of the xXx franchise.
 * 2) Brings back our decent beloved memorable characters, and its cast, such as Vin Diesel, who played as Xander Cage, and Samuel L. Jackson, who also played as Augustus Gibbons, the founder of the xXx program and also NSA field agent who originally recruited Cage, making the fans happy.
 * 3) *The title "Return of Xander Cage" is also well-received by the fans.
 * 4) The opening fight scene with Xiang shoots, and kicks at the command center are pretty cool to look at.
 * 5) Decent acting, especially for the newer casts Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa, etc.
 * 6) The soundtrack is still as epic as the first movie, which was performed by Brian Tyler and Robert Lydecker. Even the song that plays when Darius Stone returns.
 * 7) The third movie brings back the charm and extreme sportsmanship of the first movie.
 * 8) The action scenes are still cool, just like the previous two films, such as riding on the ski bike chase scene.
 * 9) Awesome practical effects, especially some of the car crashes, and even explosions as well.
 * 10) The concept of vehicles, such as making the motorbikes to have ski bikes when landing into the water is actually a cool concept for the action film, which it did fits for the action film very well.
 * 11) Continuing the otherwise terrible second movie's trend, this movie has more of a lighthearted and comedic tone. However, what makes it differ from State of the Union is that, here, the more light and funny tone and moments actually make sense and felt more necessary, given the film's over-the-top tone and the fact that Vin Diesel's character comes back after fifteen years, and in State of the Union, the light and funny moments felt unecessary for a movie that was supposed to be dark and serious.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) Even though it's a decent follow up to the second film, it is generally considered not as good as the first predecessor. Especially to those who were dumbfounded by this film's more light and comedic tone but preferred the darker and more serious feel of the original film.

Reception
XXX: Return of Xander Cage received better, but mixed reviews from critics like the first movie, with a 44% based on 149 reviews, and an average rating of 4.83/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "xXx: Return of Xander Cage should satisfy fans of the first two installments, but its preponderance of set pieces can't quite make up for a tired storyline that fails to take the franchise – or action fans – anywhere new.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score 42 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Trivia

 * This is the first film produced by Revolution Studios since The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, a decade earlier.
 * In fact, it is also the first Paramount film to be co-produced by Revolution since 2007's Next.