| DVD Roundup February 2003
 Move Over 007, Xander Is Here -- But Does He Have
Bond’s Staying Power?
If you were making a post-Bond spy
movie to compete in the marketplace, you could certainly come up with a worse way to open
than by killing Bond.
XXX sets its tone early, with a tuxedoed gentleman
leaping into action. He's spotted, and tries to slip away, but his practiced mannerisms
(as well as the monkey suit) give him away. Our guys, the good guys, are left out in the
cold as the McGuffin falls back into evil hands.
Enter Vin Diesel. Picked up by the NSA after a high-profile
BASE jump, the underground extreme sports celebrity, Xander Cage ("X" to his
friends), is run through tests of observation and survival skills before being sent to
Prague. Once there, he must find a way into the good graces of Anarchy 99 headman Yorgi
(Martin Csokas, moving up from syndicated action TV roots) in time to save the world.
It's not the smartest or most original premise to find its
way to the big screen. There's a bad guy with gray motivations and black intent, and a
good guy with gray motivations and white intent. There are explosions. There are sexy
women, beefy men, shiny guns, and speedy cars. Nothing we haven't seen before.
But high art wasn't the goal. With the James Bond franchise
losing its luster, writer Rich Wilkes and director Rob Cohen saw their opportunity to
inject some life into an increasingly stale genre. Replacing the staid entendres of 007
with a modern, cynical bent, the filmmakers relieved the action spy thriller of its '60s
lounge-act mentality.
The conceit for recruiting X is that the Anarchy crew has
military training and can spot professional spies quickly. X's background in extreme
sports means he has a willingness to put himself in harm's way to achieve a goal, yet
retain a hint of the same "booze, broads, and bullets" mentality as the
villains.
In a larger sense, the extreme-sports angle is good
marketing. Michael Jordan? Joe Montana? Wayne Gretzky? Who? If you think those are the
only sports celebrities kids respect, and whose posters hang on their walls, then you need
to find out about Tony Hawk, Mat Hoffman, and Cesar Mora.
The PG-13 rating that Cohen worked to obtain ensured the
kids who idolize the extreme sports lifestyle would empty their pockets at the theater. An
R rating would have kept them out and a PG would have bored them. Snip a few seconds of
sexy dancing here, throw in a gratuitous curse word there, and you're golden.
Of particular interest is X's straightedge lifestyle; while
he's willing to tabletop through barbed wire like Steve McQueen, he despises smoking and
drinks nothing harder than fruit juice. It is refreshing to see a big action star endorse
the message that you can be a bad ass without a cigarette between your teeth and a bottle
in your hand.
The disc includes a full-length commentary, and Cohen
offers nice insight into the production process, editing decisions, script issues, and
even stunt work. After a few shaky minutes at the start the discussions are never dry. The
best are always group efforts, however, where participants can play off each other's
stories rather than presenting just one point of view. Still, for a one-man show, Cohen
does all right.
The background material is not the disc's only bonus.
Inside The Xander Zone, you'll find a documentary that contains interviews with the
cast, crew, and a few extreme athletes who appeared in the film. There's also a look at
the film's two main vehicles, production design choices, various impressions of Vin
himself and how he took to the role, and a commercial for Pontiac, followed by a
discussion on the revitalization of the GTO.
A visual-effects deconstruction examines the creation of
both fire and ice; there are 10 deleted scenes with optional commentary; and Gavin
Rossdale’s closing title song, "Adrenaline," and his music video rounds out
the features.
XXX was a benchmark for Vin Diesel: He finally got
top billing, was the major element of the official poster, and earned 100 times more than
for his first feature. Not bad for his seventh major film.
If seeing Diesel’s new breed of spy leaves you pining
for his suave predecessor, then you might want to check out MGM’s latest reissues of
the James Bond movies. These are available individually or in deluxe sets, at attractive,
reduced prices. Featuring new anamorphic transfers and remixed sound, each movie is packed
with bonus features. The sets, packaged in stylish collector's boxes, offer an especially
appealing way to bring home the original gentleman spy.
Most folks know that James Bond got his start in a series
of novels penned by Ian Fleming. As personal assistant to the director of British Naval
Intelligence during WWII, Fleming gathered military and tactical knowledge that would
later feature heavily in his novels. Surprisingly, Bond's first on-screen appearance did
not come in 1962's Dr. No. American spy Jimmy Bond (with British liaison Clarence
Leiter) found his way onto CBS's mystery series Climax! in October of 1954 with an
adaptation of Casino Royale. Copies of this television program are still around. It
bears little resemblance to the "shaken, not stirred" Bond we know today.
Vin Diesel isn’t "the new Bond," and he
doesn't try to be. While there is already a sequel (XXX2, or
"triple-x-squared") in the works for late 2004, I can't see X's exploits
becoming serial fare. 007 is an ageless idea, while XXX is one man with one set of
moves; the extreme sports skills will just look dated after a while. Remember when
gymnastics’ inexplicable popularity led to the abominable Gymkata? Now imagine
a world in which Gymkata 9: The Gymkataning would be coming out this year. Imagine,
and be afraid.
There have been many pretenders to the superspy crown over
the years, some more successful than others; our man Flint was in long before Austin got
his powers, and his series faltered when it stopped being a spoof and started trying to be
serious. Dean Martin's Matt Helm had four outings, and even Vincent Price had two campy
films as Dr. Goldfoot. Val Kilmer tried to back source Bond for his Saint. The Spy Kids
seem to have done all right for themselves, but they won't be kids forever.
This summer's The Bourne Identity hoped to launch a
franchise, but it came across as more "Bond Jr." than "Bond 2." The
closest anything has come to even touching Bond's record is Tom Clancy's series of films,
and those are less espionage than political thriller. With 20 movies, several video games,
and dozens of novels, 007 is still working. After all, nobody does it better.
XXX finds its footing in the world of 007, taking
bits and pieces from the years of Bond films. Of course, it also steals bits from The
Third Man, The Great Escape, and True Lies. While it manages to pull off
clever, XXX never quite reaches smart. Still, it's a good film, and
an entertaining diversion. And that ain't bad.
...Josh Barber
joshb@hometheatersound.com |
