One person’s trash is almost always another’s treasure, and while most action movie aficionados would agree on which titles can definitively be called “classics”, it would also be safe to say that Vin Diesel’s 2002 spectacular xXx would not be among them.
Rob Cohen’s ode to the days of baggy jeans, frosted tips, and nu metal was a sizeable box office hit at the time after earning almost $280 million, before launching a sequel starring Ice Cube that flopped horrendously, eventually leading to Diesel’s return in the aptly-named Return of Xander Cage.
xXx isn’t an offensively terrible film, but it is a loud, stupid, and exceedingly silly one. That doesn’t mean it’s not still capable of drumming up some good old fashioned internet arguments, though, with Redditors aghast at the mere suggestion it’s top-tier stuff.
It’s hard to tell if the original poster is being serious or not, because no matter how much of a kick you get out of xXx, calling it one of the very best the genre has to offer is ridiculous. Then again, so is almost everything that happens onscreen, so perhaps it’s not so outlandish after all.
A fourth installment in the series remains lodged firmly in development hell due to complicated legal and contractual issues, but xXx has been in the midst of a resurgence on streaming, so maybe it is the best of the best after all. Then again, opinions are often precision-engineered to stoke the flames of discontent, and it’s all one big massive troll designed to do nothing more than ruffle feathers.
