I must say, I rented this movie XXX not expecting much and amazingly it exceeded my expectations of stupididty. I have a question, since when is it all right for Vin Diesel to foist such unbelievable crap upon us.
First the Fast and the Furious- why is this a hit? Terrible acting and way too many plots, many which remain unresolved. I just don't get it.
Then XXX. What a mess. Houses explode for no reason. He is able to make death defying leps on motorcycles and cars without even launching off of any visible ramp. Does he have super jumping abilities????? Then, what is his message? It is ok to steal cars and drive them off of cliffs, but god forbid you should smoke. The constant trying to be hip script p**sed me off, how many times does he mention Playstation.
I agree, it is time that old timers like Stallone, Snipes and Schwarzeneger were replaced by some new fresh faces, but for God sakes, Vin Diesel cant be the one? He could be out acted by Carrot Top and he hasnt ever done a movie as cool as Predator or Demolition Man. And dont get me started on DMX. How could Jet Li sink to DMX's level? Ugh!
He made good movies too......... Pitch Black and ummm...... well........ there was.......... no............ ok! Point taken.
I do agree that he is not in the league of any of the aging action greats, but I think he could be. The problem is when the movie is trying too hard to be faster, hipper, louder and newer, instead of being good. I thought Diesel was great in Pitch Black, and he wasn't bad in the Fast and the Furious. I think, given the right material and promotion, he could be the successor to the likes of Arnie and Stallone. At the very least he's one of the few current action heroes who isn't an annoying pretty boy.
I didn't go in expecting much, I just wanted to see something fun and timewasting one night...however, I think the brief show of Rammstein outdid the movie bar-none. More Rammstein, less Vin.
....THE IRON GIANT, for which Vin was the voice of the Iron Giant. The movie was excellent.....much better than anything Disney has done in years. Surprisingly, Vin projected a lot of character and...towards the end....actual emotion into his vocal portrayal of the robot.
The original poster in this thread was probably right....although I haven't seen ANY of Vin's action flicks, in my mind he seems to be just another passing fad/action star. Time will tell.....if he eventually does something DIFFERENT from what he's doing now, that will say something, especially if he actually does some type of serious drama instead of action drek.
Hell yes! In fact, screw Diesel altogether (unless it's for Pitch Black 2), let's just make a movie starring Rammstein. That would kick ass. The video for Ich Will was better than the movie Killing Zoe, which it was a lot like, and perhaps even better than Reservoir Dogs. Well, maybe not that far, but Till makes one of the coolest villains I've ever seen with the mohawk and suit and cane, and the bass player with that glassed-over eye...evil.
Brother R
XXX was a complete piece of crap. Basically, a poor man's James Bond flick.
Ohhhhhh....I get it!! It's okay to steal the senator's car because he's a bad man who wants to censor video games and music!!!! HAHHAHAHAHHA!!!! Go XXX!!!! Take it to the man!!! Wait!!! XXX went back on his motorbike to save his comrade that he hardly knew!!!! He's a really good guy! I love when Hollywood hammers their points home all with the subteltly of getting hit over the head with a baseball bat!!!! YAY!!!!!
Give me a break. I wish Hollywood studios wouldn't assume their audiences are complete morons. Vin Diesel came across as a man with a mouth full of marbles and no charisma or screen-presence what-so-ever. I thought he was great in Pitch Black. I don't think any actor could have saved this movie for me though.
Basically, XXX is a classic example of mainstream dog meat.....its fed to hundreds of people who all look alike, talk alike, and act alike, and because it was hyped so much and all their friends thought it was awesome, they don't knbow enough to look at it critically. Yeah, it was a stupid movie....it was terrible....but hell, there were some cool, if completely impossible, stunts, a lot of stuff blew up, and there were a lot of gorgeous scantilly clad people, both male and female, plus Ramstein....bottom line, if you ignore the bad acting and the silly plot, and focus on the naked people and the stuff blowing up....well, i was at least entertained, but in a passive kind of way....definately not engaged with the movie at all, kind of like going to a strip club, its not very intelligent or intellectual, but its still fun.
I'm amazed at his mysteriously vanishing tattoos he has.
I think Mission Hill best summed up this kind of movies when Andy asked Kevin why he wasn't watching Hitchcock or Kurasawa.
"I don't deserve to watch good movies. Oh look; they're running away from a fireball."
Quote = Definition of XXX
I did forget, there are two other movies that I really liked Vin Diesel in:
1) Boiler Room - although he has only a supporting role, I thought he was great. This is one of my favorite movies, and I wish Vin would stick to flicks in this vein, rather than eye-candy, brain-dead stuff like XXX. This movie shows that he does have talent and can put in a good performance if given good material.
2) Saving Private Ryan - It's been awhile since I have seen this one, but I thought Vin's did a good job in this one as well, although his role was very small.
Vin looks like one of those muscle guys who gets by on intimidation and would drop like a wet sack in a real fight. I just don't buy him as badass.
He was good in Pitch Black but that seems like a fluke, given his other movies.
C'on, leave the poor man make some money... I really thing XXX is not a real problem as far as Diesel doesn't reincide in this type of movies. They really can sink promising actors' careers (Wesley Snipes, anybody? anybody?).
Vin Diesel is okay, but I must say I still enjoy other actionstars better.
Oh yeah and xXx sucked.
xXx is not bad because of Vin Diesel... To tell you the truth I think he did the best that he can do for the movie...
xXx was bad because the script seems to be written by 40 year olds that dosent have a hint or understanding with todays age groups of 18 to 25 year olds...
Also, the writers has no clue on underground "xtream" groups, or even "xtream sports"...
Sure its a cool idea to jump a ramp with a motorcycle and hold the bike with one hand as the body glides off the bike and still be able to pull of a few rounds, and go back on the bike with out any problem... Sure it looks great, but if this stunt was preformed by James Bond we could believe it becasue he has done several crazy stunts in the past [ and not to mention James Bond is still the first with "xtream" stunts... For Your Eyes Only, A View with a Kill ] And somehow the writers seems to over look that...
As for Vin Diesel goes the real problem is that the character isnt a professional secret agient... and I think we were looking for a better version of "If Looks Could Kill" but we didnt get even that...
>>>I agree, it is time that old timers like Stallone, Snipes and Schwarzeneger were replaced by some new fresh faces, but for God sakes, Vin Diesel cant be the one? He could be out acted by Carrot Top<<
So could stallone, snipes and schwarzaneger back in their day.
Heck, even still. It's not about the talent when it comes to action movies. It's about the brawn and attitude
Supposdely, they are actually making a xXx sequel. Oh that hurts.
Pitch Black was good, Fast and the Furious almost put me to sleep in a theatre, and I have yet to sink to seeing xXx
Has everyone forgot about Knockaround Guys? That movie rocked. Vin really shined in that one to my amazement. I haven't seen XXX yet and may not either.
A lot of Vin's supposedly good parts have been small, (boiler room, saving private ryan) or unheard of (knockaround guys). As much as I hate to say it, In Vin's line of work, u have to be a commercial success. Two out of Three hits were awful.
Anyways, what other action stars are out there.
I think Diesel has promise. He has better acting range than Arnie or Stalone ever had.