Verdict
Summary
Return of Xander Cage is very much a missed opportunity with an excellent cast mostly wasted and very little in the way of memorable action
Plot: After coming out of self-imposed exile, daredevil operative Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) must race against time to recover a sinister weapon known as Pandora’s Box, a device that controls every military satellite in the world. Recruiting a new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself entangled in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of government.
Review: First things first. If you are expecting Donnie Yen vs. Tony Jaa then this isn’t the movie for you. In fact if you are looking for a martial arts movie then this is not that kind of flick. It’s one of the silliest movies you’ll ever watch and if you’re into gritty realism then you may want to see something else but if you’ve missed one-liner spewing action heroes then strap yourself in for some old-school action with a modern twist.
Donnie Yen (of course) steals the movie and his charisma jumps off the screen and if his character Xiang gets his own spin-off then that would be no bad thing. Tony Jaa is criminally under utilized as Talon who is filled with personality… which is something he was never accused of with his earlier pictures. He tends to mimic Michael Jackson a lot and dances around theatrically while giving us the stunts that we love him for. There were actually a few too many characters and they could have done with thinning the herd so our two martial arts heroes could get more screen time.
Return of Xander Cage is action-packed and there is thankfully less CGI than the trailers promised; there is some however, and those are the film’s weakest points along with some shaky cam but it more than makes up for it in stunts and bullets.
One of the greatest selling points of the movie (like the Fast & Furious series) is the diversity of the cast; it’s refreshing to see Deepika Padukone as one of the leads and she’s not just a love interest but an ass-kicker too.
Vin Diesel is exactly the same as he is in everything and how his career has lasted this long is frankly shocking but he’s clearly a good businessman.
Brian Tyler’s score is migraine inducing but it does the job especially the opening credits music which rocked; it’s a shame we don’t get to hear the xXx theme from the first movie as I thought it was cool, so the music here has no real sense of identity.
Overall, Return of Xander Cage is pretty much critic proof as you know what to expect going in. It won’t be for everyone as it’s incredibly dumb and is at times laughably bad but it does have the best action cast since The Expendables and some spectacular scenes so I would welcome another entry in this series over another Fast & Furious any day of the week.
