xXx is a fast paced, high energy movie that keeps the action on overdrive while leaving a story with plot holes the size of an SUV. But with the undeniable movie star appeal of Vin Diesel as its anchor, the movie is worth the price of admission.

Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) is an extreme sports legend who is forced by the NSA to become a secret agent. The NSA is tired of losing its top agents, so they look to the criminal world for inspiration, and Cage comes up as the top dog. He's pulled into a world of shadowy Russian anarchists living in Prague who are attempting to create a weapon known as the Silent Death that can destroy a city and not leave a trace of how or why. Cage goes undercover and infiltrates the gang, and uses his street smarts to stay one step ahead. But when he falls for the beautiful Yelena (Asia Argento), things take a turn for the worse, and he's gotta be even quicker to make the grade.

Without a doubt Vin Diesel has got 'It'. He's got that movie star quality that's going to make him a huge action star. He's got the look, the voice and the talent to back it all up. For some reason I keep picturing him in a movie with The Rock. The Rock would play the good guy, hunting down Vin Diesel as the bad guy in a real cat and mouse game. I think it would work. Anyway, in xXx, Diesel has the movie that will take him to the top of the food chain in Hollywood. It's got a lot of high powered action and he handles himself very well in his first real starring role. This movie has been said to be the James Bond of the new era, and in some ways thats true. But in my opinion, this movie is different in that Diesel plays Cage as someone who isn't always sure of himself. James Bond is always suave and in control, no matter what the situation. Cage is someone who is new to the whole spy game, and is often in a position where he doesn't know what the hell to do. And Diesel did a good job of portraying that, giving his character a more personable appeal.

Some of the action sequences were astounding. The avalanche scene, even though it was computer generated, was incredible. A lot of the other stunts that Cage would pull were equally impressive, even if some of them had a 'c'mon' ring to them (hitting a boat with a harpoon from 100 feet away while both boat and car are going 80mph? c'mon). And the action was almost non-stop. Any time the story would start to get bogged down in a love scene or something else, there would quickly be another sequence where something was getting blown up or someone was getting shot. It made for a very quick two hour movie.

The problem I had was the story. There really wasn't much of one, but I suppose there didn't need to be one. This isn't a movie you go to see for story. You go for the explosions. You go for the cheesy one-liners. But I also didn't like how the characters were just thrown in there with no explanation. Especially Diesel's character. He was shown doing one impressive stunt at the beginning of the movie involving a car and a parachute, but there wasn't much background on him otherwise. I'm hoping in the sequel they go more into his past to make his character a little more well-rounded. The music was loud and fit in with the film pretty well. And the rest of the cast was almost an afterthought to the process. Samuel L. Jackson had a small role and didn't really have much to do except walk around with an unexplained scar on his face. This movie was Diesel's to carry, and carry it he did.

So overall I'd suggest seeing xXx on the big screen. Movies such as this, with the visual and audial intensity this one has, needs to be seen on a big screen with large speakers. The music and action jumps out at you and makes for a great summer movie ride.

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