xXx The Return of Xander Cage.

Sometime after making the first film very successfully they decided to make another film but this time without Vin Diesel. XXX was released in 2002 by Columbia pictures, had a fantastic plot and soundtrack and got everyone crazy about cars, bikes, boards and heavy metal music (most notably Ramsmstein). The film ends with Xander taking some holiday time in Borra Borra with Yuri's sister. Vin Diesel and Rob Cohen both dropped out from the second film because Diesel disliked the script and Cohen was directing something else. Ice Cube took over as the newest XXX recruit. He features at the end of this film as well.

So we are more than 10 years on from the original XXX franchise and no one was going to watch this film if it didn't star Vin Diesel in it. From the moment he climbs a satelite tower, skis off of it before switching to some really cool skateboarding stunts and then back in time to help everyone to watch the world cup you know that you are back where you started with the original films! Remember the line 'Cars, Bikes, Boards, I like anything fast enough to do something stupid with'? that pretty much sums up the first bit of Xander Cage action you see. With Gibbons trying to recruit Neymar Jr as the latest addition to the XXX programme and him dying in Brazil you just get the feeling that it may be a little faked, after all, a film of this calibre without Samuel L Jackson being a constant theme would be very difficult.

The first thing you will notice is that they have taken a sort of Deadpool attitude on the captions, claiming that Neymar thought he was being recruited to join the Avengers team. There is almost definitely going to be a fourth film. Now that we've laughed over the captions we can move on to laughing at how Xander is always smarter than the CIA. So somewhere along the line you know that the CIA are probably going to double cross Cage but then seeing as how he did attach a lead to his soldier team and send them parachuting over the middle east without their consent and then draft in his own team which includes a guy who loves to crash cars, a really hot girl as a sniper and a DJ let's just say he has pissed off most of the people he is working for before even starting- sound familiar?

This time, no cars- it's not the Fast and the Furious. The plan is easy enough, they've tracked the team of ghosts, led by Donnie Yen to the Philippines. Some juggling with Grenades and some dancing involves a water speed chase on motorbikes. Everything that you loved about the first film is in this film but the 'dope' attitude is there as well. The use of 'read between the lines' to kill someone and a few other comments make for a good laugh, also the girls teaming up in one scene to kill a lot of people before Ice Cube makes his introduction and destroys the other enemies in the building. This film has almost everything in it. Donnie Yen beating everyone up without guns and then doing the same with guns in great, the stunts are there and clearly not done by stunt doubles.

On this blog I have been guilty of at times only looking at the headlining cast but not with this film! Deepika Padukone is the most mysterious character. Landed with the job of soldering and welding along with doing the splits for her first couple of scenes it seems this woman is not the normal action woman- doing the splits yes but welding is not. Her dead shot type of personality and the controlled thinker makes her a woman not to be reckoned with. Given the guns as backup, her standoff scene with Ruby Rose (who really owns the blue hair!) is exquisite, similar to Christian Bale's standoff fight in Equilibrium. Ruby Rose is fantastic, I look forward to seeing her because not only is she really attractive but she has that Lara Croft feel about her thinking and actions. She's in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, John Wick 2 (which hasn't been released yet) and Pitch Perfect 3 (another one for the blog) so she has an exciting future and remember to look out for her. Deepika Padukone is apparently known over the other side of the world but this is the film which should make her in Europe and America so I would suggest watching out for her as well, although I don't know of any upcoming film with her in.

Kris Wu is Canadian-Chinese and relatively big in China but not here. He is apparently a singer but he really owns the DJ scene and is quite good with a gun. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in a few more films as well. Once he puts the hood on he is a really cool character in this film and also not crazy, which makes him more of the Morgan Freeman type character from RED.

Tony Jaa from Ong-Bak, Fast and Furious 7 and The Bodyguard is already making a name for himself. More with the fist fighting martial arts and the dancing than anything else but he also proved to be okay with a machine gun. Along with Michael Bisping, they make up the team of fist fighters with Yen who steal Pandora's box (could they not come up with an original name?). Some of these guys have a bright future and others seem to get type cast a little and that will effect their future in film. With Rory McCann making up the addition to Xander's team and playing the slightly more John Malcovitch role of crazy this guy is already known for Hot Fuzz, Game of Thrones and Clash of The Titans- he already has the career and by playing crazy in this way he is doing something different.

This cast is not one that screams stars but one that screams of stars to be. With names that we already know and names to look out for and the possibility of another film, with this film being almost as good as the first film there is a bright future for this team and I look forward to following this future.