Triple X and Triple X State of the Union Review

Hello and welcome to the eighth episode of the

MWIRE movie we can review. Today we are going

to be discussing the triple X films. I am TFD1

Mike and as usual I am joined by Steve Megatron.

Hello. Yo. How are you? Yo. That doesn't exactly

answer the question. I'm doing alright. Yeah?

Any more problems from work Not much that I can't

handle but same basic crap I'm not really gonna

bring up anything really as far as Crap stuff

cuz it I'm just gonna refer people to headshot

9 headshot episode 9 because that's where all

the rants are so What's been going on with you

that's been positive this week, I guess we could

say? Possibly more networking for GCR. I've also

listed various outlets on that. Trying to get

a press kit for that Michigan movie deal thing

that's going on in October. Because I just found

out they're doing press kits and so they're gonna

contact me with more info So hoping that goes

through hoping to actually attend as not only

Yeah, I remember to report on it, but As Hopefully

somebody trying to get into it too, so I don't

know whatever but Other than that, all I've been

doing is watching these goofy ass videos on YouTube

from the Lonely Island guys, which are also on

Saturday Night Live. Ah. Yes. They're hilarious.

I've seen my favorite one out of the many is

the punched in the face while eating. Yeah. I

freaking love the background music to it. If

I could find it without the laughing in it. Yeah.

It would be awesome. Various people have tried

reproducing this video and it's kind of funny.

But I love the fact that everybody gets beat

the hell out of and then all of a sudden just

take to left field, there's zombies. Yes, one

of my followers on Twitter, TransFan1990, she

posted a link to a YouTube video the other night.

or last night or I don't even know anymore my

nights and days kind of run into each other now

I I basically have no concept of time anymore

because it kind of like all runs together with

me because of how fucked up my sleep schedule

is um and that's a whole other issue but anyway

she linked this video and it was uh Abbott and

Costello's classic who's on first bit put to

g1 imagery and it's just so so funny and I love

that bit I'm probably gonna end up I actually

have it on iTunes it's not the live version like

that was but I'm going to probably eventually

use that in a DCR episode or one of our other

episodes that's not really specific to movies

or I don't know, I may send it to you, you can

use it in a headshot or something. I don't know,

something, but I think that needs to be used

because I love that. It's so funny. Yes. It's

so, so funny. What else has been going on with

me? we're moving along very not really in a fast

pace but I mean it's like we do these things

daily thank God we don't because I'd have to

watch a whole shitload of movies if we did them

daily or and I know you don't have that kind

of time anyway but I mean just doing these weekly

And again, and I will continue to say this throughout

probably the show's entire lifespan Look how

much content we've already talked about through

seven episodes and not even that I mean just

looking through all the various shows. Well,

yeah Well, I mean I was specifically speaking

of M wire and then I was you know, bring up thin

cast We're currently on 13 for that You know,

um, no, sorry. Speaking of episode 13 of Tooncast,

there is an ad in there by Ron Algar Watt and

Matt Robotham. They do a... Algar, he does those

Transformers Lovingly Reviewed By, which is basically

a video version of TFG -1. So that... That's

what that's all who does that I was wondering

yes, but him and Matt Robotham do a comedy podcast

called the sarcastic voyage podcast And I put

that ad in there, and I'm probably gonna put

it in this episode as well I'm currently in talks

with lupus convoy and Ron as well as far as doing

the secret origins podcast which is reviewing

all 91 episodes of Justice League and Justice

League Unlimited for that. Again, that show's

probably not going to start until sometime next

year. You and I still have to get Beast Unleashed

off the ground. Hopefully, the fat guy in the

red suit from up north will bring me the Beast

Wars DVDs for Christmas. Hopefully. Well, I also

got to get the G .I. Joe stuff for Cobra Cast.

Yeah. You know, there's a lot of anticipation

and a lot of people waiting for the beast on

leash podcast I keep telling them that that's

the only thing holding that back is me not having

those Oh, yeah, otherwise we'd be blasting that

out. Yeah Yeah, no doubt and there's no no doubt

that I would be able to see every single episode

because I own Every season. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes,

we know rub it in rub it in I will know it was

four years in the making Yeah, I mean we're just

just Exuberating with with content. We're finally

gonna have a new GCR episode this week I need

to start doing research on that probably tomorrow.

You and me both. Probably later today. I think

I have like maybe 10 or 12 things listed. It's

going to be the top 50 geekiest things or moments

that had significance to us. Like Ghostbusters,

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, stuff like that.

It can be anything that's geek related. So that

will be Geekcast Radio episode 5. I would like

to do, I don't know if I would do this with you

or not, I'm not sure. I want to do the music

that shaped my life type of episode and it would

probably be like a two or three or maybe even

four or five part episode. Because there's just,

I mean, I love listening to music and there's

just a whole crap load of music from the time

I was born to now. that I absolutely listen to

all the time and stuff like that. I have been

watching a lot of the show Cold Case lately and

that show is a perfect show for finding songs

you haven't heard in a long time because the

basic show premise is that it's a cold case,

somebody died say in 1955. and it's you know

in their time it's like two thousand four two

thousand five whatever in the end they go back

and solve the murder anyway when the seat when

the first scene opens as the show opens they

will play a song from that generation you know

whatever uh... and lately since i've been watching

if there's been a lot of good songs on their

anyway uh... so yeah i think i've him from home

enough and i think we're going to get into the

show topic today unless you have anything else

that you want to bring up If anybody has anything

that they'd like us to include in, whether it

be more in depth or other things to include in

these episodes, as well as things for any of

the GeekCast radio shows, be sure to send either

one of us emails about it, as well as comment

on Facebook and iTunes. Yeah, that's one thing.

I don't think we have any reviews for MWIRE yet.

I don't think we have any reviews for GCR yet.

GCR is young. Well yeah, GCR is only four episodes.

But yeah, please leave us positive feedback on

iTunes. The email address for MWIRE is gcrnmwire

.gmail .com. Or you can email Steve at steveatgeekcastradio

.com. So yeah, anyway, we're gonna get into some

action -packed adventures today with the Triple

X franchise. Your Triple X. It must be great

to go on a mission with the danger, death, destruction,

mayhem. You never know when some evil freak villain's

gonna hop out. Not to mention the women. How

long have you been a secret agent? Two days.

And they probably picked you up, pumping iron

and sand quitting. You ever get punched in the

face for talking too much? From the director

and producer of The Fast and the Furious. Dirty,

dangerous, uncivilized. I love his attitude.

Comes a new breed of secret agents. I want all

that in here. Cool. Let's take it to the next

level. Vin Diesel is Triple X. Shaken and stirred.

Okay, today's show topic is the XXX film. I guess

it's a franchise, there's only two films so far.

With Flex and then XXX State of the Union. And

then a third on the way. Yeah, there is a third

on the way. We'll talk about that here in a little

bit. As far as the first film, XXX, pronounced

Triple X, is a 2002 action film starring Vin

Diesel. The lead role is Xander Cage, a thrill

-seeking extreme sports enthusiast, stuntman,

and rebellious anarchist turned reluctant spy

for the National Security Agency, who is sent

on a dangerous mission to implicate a group of

potential terrorists in Eastern Europe. Triple

X also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Morton, Kosokas?

I don't know how to spell that. Asia, Argentino,

Michael Roof, Lila, R. Carey, Tom Everett, and

Danny Trio. Triple X is written by Rich Wilkes,

directed by Rob Cohen, who also directed Diesel

in 2001's The Fast and the Furious, and produced

by Neil H. Moritz for Revolution Studios. It

was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film

featured notable contemporary rock music soundtrack,

mostly featuring heavy metal. Ramstein provided

some of the music and even featured in the film

in one scene. The soundtrack album also features

Queens of the Stone Age, Drowning Pool, Hatebreed

and others, some artists of different genres

such as Nellie, Lil Wayne, Nerd, Orbital and

Moby. Triple X was marketed as a James Bond style

film for the new millennium and featured similar

gadgetry, international schemes and intrigues

villain -sponsored takeover the world themes.

backed up by Doomsday Devices, a female co -star

slash love interest, and elaborate stunts. However,

the film has notable rejection of many traditional

spy film cliches. It includes themes of anarchism

and extreme sports subcultures. The film received

mixed reviews, but well received by fans of the

action movies at the time of its release, also

by those who enjoyed the idea of James Bond for

Generation Y. It is also a financial success

for the studios, a film that's however not been

as well received since since currently has rather

average rating of 47 % on Rotten Tomatoes. The

film was followed very poorly received sequel,

titled Triple X State of the Union, starring

the rapper Ice Cube and directed by Lee Tamahori.

Neither Vin Diesel or Rob Cohen, the creator

Rich Wilkes, were involved in the sequel, and

there were notable differences in both style,

less emphasis on extreme sports and music. Rock

music was replaced with hip -hop and rap. For

example, Triple X City of the Union currently

has a very poor rating of 16 % in Rotten Tomatoes.

The sequel was also a disastrous financial failure,

making less than half of what it was expected

compared to the original. Um, although... I thought

I was going into the plot first, but I guess

not. Although, Triple X City of the Union apparently

killed off the franchise and also the character

of Xander Cage. was killed to explain his absence

in the sequel. Columbia Pictures is interested

in making another Trivelikes film if Diesel and

Cohen were on board the project to further ensure

popularity and financial success if the project

was more in line with the original film to appease

its fans in late 2008. Diesel stated that he

is to indeed resurrect the character of Xander

Cage and once again collaborate with Rob Cohen

as directed the third time. It has since been

announced that XXX the return of Xander Cage

will indeed go ahead and it's slated for mid

-2010 release. Joe Roth is in talks to produce.

Again, I guess I put the information on this

one backwards. I don't know, normally we would

be in the plot synopsis now and talk about the

rest of the stuff later and actually there is

more. information, but as far as like cast level,

we'll get into that after the plot synopsis,

but what do you think about the news and stuff

as far as they're gonna be a third one? I know

you've seen the first one, you haven't seen the

second one, but what do you think about them

actually doing a third film? Think that that

would be really good for the franchise and it

could possibly lead to another film after that

depending on how well it's received But the fact

that it's got diesel as well as Cohen Wanting

to jump back behind the seat of the triple X

franchise. I think that'll revive it Similar

to when they were, you know in the Fast and the

Furious. Yeah So yeah, I mean, you know, I I

would love us, you know, to see a third film.

I'm not as negative as a lot of people is are

towards the second one. I actually kind of like

the second one almost more than the first one.

And I'll get into that later when we talk when

we talk about the second one. So starting the

plot off here for the first film. An NSA agent

on a mission infiltrates the concert where Ramstein

is performing only to be killed by an operative

of Anarchy 99, a rebellious Eastern European

underground group. After losing one of their

own, NSA operative Augustus Gibbons, played by

Samuel L. Jackson, gets the okay to run a project

to find the right person to infiltrate Anarchy

99. Zander Cage aka Triple X, played by Vin Diesel,

is a law -breaking extreme sports enthusiast

with a propensity for rebellious behavior after

crashing a state senator's corvette for banning

violent video games run by Senator Dick Hotchkiss,

played by Tom Everett. His hideout is raided

by SWAT team and he is tranquilized. You know,

and I will continue to say probably throughout

MWIRE's entire lifespan, Wikipedia for blood

synopsis, sometimes they're really good, sometimes

they suck. This whole first half of the movie,

what did you think? Do you remember seeing this?

Yeah, I remember this part and it was quite hilarious.

Just watching him go do all this extremist stuff

and think that he got away for the most part

just to end up getting taken down in the end.

Similar to the other criminals that have been

rounded up, Gibbons has a series of dangerous

tasks for Triple X to see and see if he's up

to the job, which include dropping Triple X in

a cocaine producing area of rural Columbia where

Xander is captured. His hands and feet are tied

up and he is gagged and tortured by Alec Jeffy,

played by Danny Trejo. Zander manages to break

free and defeat his captors just as an NSA squad

arrives. What did you think of that scene with

the whole torture thing and then he escapes and

the whole dirt bike in the cocaine fields and

stuff like that? Don't remember much about the

cocaine fields, but I do remember that It's it's

I don't know it's just cool how Vin Diesel portrays

the character and oh, yeah Oh, yeah, and you

know goes up against all unbeatable odds and

just because he's such an extremist on everything

that he does is Able to figure out a way around

it. Oh Yeah, you know this whole scene With the

dirt bike, you know going at the helicopter and

everything else. It was really cool. I really

enjoyed it and I like the fact that he's going

back for one of his teammates and not just leaving

them. That kind of shows the whole, even though

I don't think he has any military background,

It shows the whole thing of being good to your

fellow man and stuff like that. The next morning,

Augustus arrives and mentions that the exposing

Colombian drug cartel was another part of the

test. Xander is then given a choice by Augustus

to work for him or serve a lengthy prison term

for his misdeeds. He grudgingly chooses government

employment. Triple X goes undercover in the Czech

Republic in order to find out more about Anarchy

99, and in particular their leader, Leith Yorgi,

led by Morton Sokos, I believe it's said, I don't

know, a Russian ex -soldier who has a grudge

against authority and society in general, and

indeed all political ideologies, both left -wing

and right -wing, delving into the dark yet lavish,

tempting underworld inhabited by the group. Xander

finds himself drawn to Yurgi's apparent girlfriend,

Yelena, played by Asia Argentino, who turns out

to be an abandoned agent of Russian intelligence

agency, the Federal Security Bureau. And he negotiates

a political asylum deal with Gibbons to save

and secure her a new life in America, however,

Anarchy 99 turns out to be a terrorist faction,

planning a series of chemical weapons attacks

on major world cities by utilizing a high -speed

automated seafaring and river fairing drone named

Ahab. The chemical weapon is referred to as Silent

Night and the formula has been missing since

the fall of Soviet Union in 1991. Silent Night

is comprised of everyday chemicals and yet combination

are lethal. Chemicals yet in combination are

lethal after killing millions of chemicals are

designed to harmlessly disperse in the water.

Yurgi's ultimate aim is to cause chaos and lawlessness

across the entire world, bringing civilization

to an anarchic end. And again, I will keep bringing

this up. Wiki kind of glosses over a lot of the

stuff. I really think that him going into the

dark world and then Once he gets there. There's

the whole scene where they show him to the bedroom

with the hot chicken bed And he goes the things

I had I must do for my country, you know, and

although it was just great. Oh, yeah Oh, yeah,

so great What do you think of all this that I've

just synopsized You mean that wiki did a very

poor job on including details for yeah, but I

mean just the whole paragraph I just read I think

that, you know, the triple X, of course, is not

too thrilled to be doing this and, you know,

tempted to go down the same road as these guys

because he kind of agrees with them, but then

he also partially understands that, you know,

there has to be some kind of a balance between

it. Otherwise, you end up crazy like Yorgi is

wanting to kill everybody. And we should mention

the, um, the, uh, what's his name? Her little

love, not really love interest, but the guy that's

pining over, the one that's always smoking the

cigarette hits. Yeah, I know who you're talking

about. I don't know the name, though. I don't

remember what his name was. But there was a scene

where she's you know when when? Xander and her

are finding out about each other and he has a

Sniper rifle pointed at his head and he's asking

us Xander asked her is there a back way out of

here and she goes yeah What are you gonna do?

Oh, you'll see he grabs a he grabs a A silver

dinner tray runs out, uses it as a surf slash

skateboard and grinds down the ramp and escapes

the rest. I thought that was a really cool scene

there. Yeah, it was. So then we have Xander with

Yelena still continuing to act as a double agent

learns that Ahab is equipped with a device designed

to travel to highly populated areas. where it

can deploy as a biological missile and continues

on its world -ending journey by submerging in

the ocean. An agent turned criminal, Milan Sova,

played by Richie Mueller, unaware of Yurgy's

ultimate plans, finds Xander's methods also extreme.

They date effects and supports of Yurgy, and

Milena is forced to kill him. Then Xander arranges

an operation to raid the remote castle with the

Czech Special Forces, which Jorgi and Anarchy

99 have been using as their base and laboratory.

Xander is then captured, his hands and feet are

tied up, and he is tortured. Galina eventually

rescues him and unties him. After Xander shoots

and kills Jorgi, Xander speeds along winding

roads and parasails to Ahab, speeds down the

Vltava River towards Prague, capital of the Czech

Republic. For the population of well over a million,

Xander finally destroys the drone and the chemicals

on board when they are harmlessly dispersed in

the water, proceeding to quip welcome to the

Xander zone. These scenes here, first of all,

the attack on the castle. The dude is snowboarding

down the freaking mountain. When he gets to,

like, one of the higher precipices, he has two

grenades, pulls the pins, throws them up, jumps

off, and a giant explosion causing an avalanche

happens. This is just me remembering the scene.

This isn't me reading from the synopsis here

at all. I love that scene. That was such a cool,

cool scene. Well, it's just your typical badass

in a movie then plus it used his his sports extreme

sports skills in the process of what looks to

Like he could be a military, you know Special

agent anyhow, right? Yeah. Yeah And then another

funny part when they get into the when they get

into the castle thing and she gives him the gun

or whatever He goes to shoot It doesn't fire

she goes you have to turn the safety off first

So at least it's teaching people that that want

to fire guns like that At least it's teaching

people that you know that there are safeties

for these things. I guess I don't know the whole

chasing down the The missile thing on the water.

I thought that was pretty cool in it and the

little Stalker of Yelena the guy with the rifle

who was hiding Xander uses a heat -seeking missile

to kill him. And the only reason why he uses

a heat -seeking missile is because he says, he's

smoking, isn't he? I told him cigarettes were

gonna kill him because the heat -seeking missiles

honed in on the heat from the cigarette. While

that doesn't seem very practical, it's still

very funny. Makes sense. Yes, very, very much

so. Overall, I did enjoy this film. I think one

of the reasons why I don't enjoy it as much anymore

is because TV, especially FX, has shown it over

and over and over and over again. You know what

the bad part about that is? I believe I said

before we got on air tonight that There is a

two -disc, unrated, director's cut DVD, which

I did not know. I just knew about the original

theatrical version. I will get that eventually.

I don't have it now. But I figured at some point

this week before we recorded this, and of course

by the time this airs, it'll be Saturday, I would

have seen it on TV. I looked FX pretty much all

the way up till about two hours ago from last

Sunday. And it wasn't showing at all So yeah,

you know again just one of your final thoughts

in the film overall Regardless of the fact that

it's not your typical spy secret agent movie

it was pretty action -packed and pretty cool

to see especially with all the crazy tricks that

go on throughout it and Vin Diesel plays a pretty

good badass anyhow in any movie that he's in

so definitely a must see Oh yeah, excuse me,

sorry Oh yeah, I'm just boring you No, no, no

No, I'm gonna take a nap today. But anyway, um

Yeah, anyway Yeah, I would agree. Um, I do like

how they pretty much make fun of James Bond throughout

the entire film There's a scene in the Trailer

and I'm sure it's in the movie. I just don't

remember but I did get the trailer audio for

for today's episode Where he where? Xander says

shaken and stirred instead of shaken not stirred

So, you know, there are a lot of clips towards

Bond. Kirill was the member, the cigarette addict

with the rifle. We've kind of already gone over

the cast earlier, so I'm not really going to

get into that. As far as the gadgets the gadgets

in this thing were awesome You had a Motorola

a comply communicator modified for two -way video

phone use which again in 2002 video phone use

wasn't really that Wasn't really that like mainstream

not like it is now No. Not at all. Multi -purpose,

multi -functional field revolver. I love this

gun. This is better. I'm sorry, this is probably

going to be very controversial to a lot of people,

but this is better than the Walther PPK that

Bond uses. It's a modified Smith & Wesson N -frame

model 610 classic with custom barrel and Seymour

sight. It also comes with custom bullets in the

film. Like, you know, knockout gas, bullet, and

a whole bunch of other things. Attachment darts

for the gun, deterred knockout, blood spatter,

and tranquilizer functions as false death bullet.

Radio surveillance, exploding bomb, standard

.44 caliber bullets. The eagle eyes, enhanced

vision binoculars, including x -ray mode. Yeah,

I wanted those. The Dr. Bellinger bandages covert

concealed primer -based and explosive, including

wireless detonator. The Pontiac GTO, modified

by Agent Shavers, includes ejectable roof, concealed

personal weapons cache, hidden stinger missiles,

removable parachutes in seats, GPS navigation,

flame thrower, mini -bombs, and exploding hubcaps.

What did you think of all the gadgets in this

film? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah Like no doubt in my

mind when I want them. Yes, very very much though

I mean, I am not really a gun person like, you

know in real life, but you know, I would want

that gun Notable cameos for this film to implies

Andrew Cage's credibility was in the extreme

sports subcultures various personalities make

cameo appearances Tony Hawk makes a cameo appearance

in the Corvette scene from the bottom of the

bridge driving the getaway Cadillac, near the

beginning of the movie, and skating over a half

-pipe at Xander's place later. Mike Ballet, I

think I'm seeing that right, Ballet, I don't

know, whatever, also makes a cameo in Cameraman

and extra pro BMX rider, Wreck Thorne, is seen

in the backseat of the Cadillac driven by Tony

Hawk. and writer Matt Hoffman exchanges lines

with Xander during the party scene. Also during

the party scene, Josh Todd, the lead singer of

Buck Cherry, makes a cameo appearance. He never

turns around, but you can see the suicide King

of Hearts tattoo on his back. In a deleted scene,

when Xander Cage is on a plane, one of the other

passengers can be clearly heard listening to

the first race from Vin Diesel 2001, Fast and

Furious. As the bands Ramstein and Orbital are

in the film, Ramstein appear in the film during

the nightclub rave sequence. Do you want to take

over with the movie themes? Do you want me to

do it? Alright, what part in the movie list?

I'll just do it. Various concepts and themes

influence the production of the film. and are

alluded to throughout the plot. These include

extreme sports subcultures, anarchism, and a

rejection of traditional spy film cliches. The

opening scene of the movie was referred to by

Cohen as the death of the tuxedo, in reference

to the styles of dress and stereotype typically

worn in James Bond movies, though Cohen denied

that this was meant to be a derogatory attack

on such films. He also explained that the antagonist,

Yorgy, was designed as a stereotypical anarchist

and was intended to act as a foil for Xanda Cage's

youthful rebelliousness, although he notes his

personal disdain for and displays certain misconceptions

of political thought. I'm going to skip down

a few steps here. Triple X received mixed critics.

Tomatoes reported that 47 % of the critics gave

the film positive reviews based on a sample of

173 average score of 5 .6 out of 10 the movie

did very well in the box office passing its budget

of 70 us with domestic total gross of 142 million

and 267 million worldwide um you know I Again,

critics, they obviously don't know good films.

I think this deserves more than a 5 .6 out of

10. Granted, some of the gadgets are kind of

out there on this one. Overall, I think it's

better than a 5 .6. The novelization for the

movie was written by popular author Mel Odom.

There's a soundtrack for the film. The soundtrack

for the film was released August 6, 2002 for

Universal Records. It peaked at number 9 on the

Billboard 200, number 16 on the top R &B hip

-hop albums, and number 1 on the top soundtracks.

The director's cuts. The Director's Cut DVD of

Triple X was released on April 19, 2005, ten

days before the sequel of Triple X State of the

Union was released. In cinemas, the Director's

Cut of Triple X featured new artwork and scenes

that looked like the previous scene. Some of

those include additional scenes that foreshadowed

Xander as a hero and also a longer strip in the

bedroom sequence. There were also sneak peeks

at the sequel. The final chapter, The Death of

Xander Cage, in addition to the deleted scenes

on the director's cut of XXX, the DVD contains

a short film entitled The Final Chapter of the

Death of Xander Cage. Some four and a half minutes

long, in this short death of Vin Diesel's character,

Xander Cage is vaguely depicted. The short film

attempts to tie up the loose ends from the first

film and ties in the beginning of the sequel.

Albeit not very neatly Xander's face is never

actually seen in his bodily played by a stand

-in With a single sample of Vin Diesel's dialogue

from the first film things. I'm gonna do for

my country Yeah, I don't know if I'm going I

mean I will get the the two -disc DVD for For

the first film, but I don't know if I would even

watch that because it just doesn't look that

all that great Well, that's just I don't know

just kind of dumb in my opinion considering he's

gonna be back in the third one. Oh, yeah. It

was just the second guy wanting to be like, oh,

well, this is my series now. Very, very much

so. Basically wanting to retcon and get rid of

Xander Cage completely. Yep, pretty much. Which

is, again, like you said, very, very stupid.

Well, considering it was one of the biggest,

you know, characters in the franchise. Yep. As

far as sequels, Columbia Pictures wanted to take

the franchise in different directions with less

emphasis on stunts and extreme sports. A sequel

was released in 2005 entitled Triple X State

of the Union, directed by Lee Tamahori due to

the fact that Rob Cohen had dropped out of the

project. Subsequently Vin Diesel had also dropped

out and not wanted to do the film without Cohen

and so the character of Xander Cage was killed

off in an explosion caused by the villain of

the sequel in a special feature for the director's

cut DVD release of XXX. Replacing Diesel for

the sequel was rap artist at slash actor Ice

Cube. Accordingly the soundtrack was changed

from a heavy metal slash modern rock mixture

to hip -hop slash extreme rap style. Although

Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Roof reprised their

roles from the original film, and some big names

were included, such as Willem Dafoe, the sequel

was not as well -received as the first film,

perhaps due to the fact that Hallmark Extreme

Times had been heavily toned down. Triple X Day

of the Union was considered a financial flop,

having the only main half of what it was expected

to earn based on the original film. Triple X

Day of the Union currently has a disappointing

rating of 16 % on Rotten Tomatoes. Although the

character of Xander Cage was apparently killed

off in the sequel due to explain his absence,

the character apparently survived as Vin Diesel

has informed that he will be returning as Xander

Cage in his second sequel, entitled XXX The Return

of Xander Cage, which is slated for release in

2010, which we've already met. Although as yet

script is to be completed, Diesel has agreed

to return, so is the director of Triple X, Ralph

Cohen. Diesel has said style and music will also

be similar to that of the original film, more

of what the fans want, with an emphasis on extreme

stunts with heavy metal soundtrack. Joe Roth

is in talks to produce. According to Cohen, he

has also approached Sony, and now we're writing

the script with the guys who wrote Terminator

3 and Terminator Salvation. sold in alexander

cage triple x bring it up to speed a bit and

bring back the extreme sports guy who drafted

to be the spy uh... before we get into the triple

x union ike's i would love to see a sequel just

reading that and is looking at that i don't know

maybe it's because i'm more of a fan of of city

union and i was the first one uh... it's uh...

i don't know Well, see, I can't make a very good

predictor idea of what I would think would be

better because I haven't seen the second one,

obviously. But they, I mean, I kind of agree

to some extent of what they should do touching

on the first one. But at the same time, they

should give it a little bit of a mix between

the two, like a nice balance between them. Oh,

yeah, so that it'll appease both people but mostly,

you know, obviously they're tailored to the first

movie which made the most money You know very

much so so we are gonna move on to triple X state

of the In the center of American power we are

at a critical moment in our history An attack

is being prepared. Some men die, so others may

live. On a target. Don't secure! Lock us down!

You never expected that. Mr. President? An NSA

chapter was just hit. On our own soil? Whoever

attacked us knew exactly what it hit. We have

to go off the grid now. I want to give you a

job. Be just like old times. Last time I ended

up in here. Darius Stone, trained sniper, top

scorers, urban recon, demolition, led a mutiny

against a four -star general. Darius Stone no

longer exists. Who the hell am I? You're the

new Triple X. God bless America. Now one man

is discovering that the greatest threat to our

nation, Secretary of Defense Decker, comes from

within. They got tanks, choppers. This man is

making a move on the U .S. Capitol. I'll do whatever

it takes to best protect this nation. You're

going to take the President out. No, Captain.

You are. Can I pull the trigger? You take the

fall. Cleanest revolution in history. Fellow

Americans, our union is strong. Everybody out!

To deal with these guys, I'm gonna need some

serious gear. If you need anything. Anything?

You're not getting away with it. What can one

man do? We're gonna have tanks waiting. Let's

crash this port. That's what I'm talking about!

Wars come and go, but my soldiers stay eternal.

I like that. Who said it? Jefferson, Patton.

Tupac. Okay, it's now time for the sequel to

Triple X. I actually really enjoy this film.

This is another one of those where... I know

you haven't seen it, but you really should. This

one was more of a home base. It takes place in

DC for the most part. So let's get this started

here. Triple X State of the Union, mainly released

as Triple X 2, the next level outside the United

States and Canada, is a 2005 action adventure

film directed by Lee Temelhoring, who also directed

the James Bond film Time of the Day. It is a

sequel to the 2002 film Triple X. The film was

produced by Revolution Studios for Columbia Pictures.

Ben Diesel and Rob Cohen, lead actor and director

of the original, had signed on to this film before

it opened, but both dropped out. Cohen remained

as executive producer. The two different scripts

were made for this film. The one written by Simon

Kinberg was selected. The other script featured

a radically different plot, possibly serving

as the basis for another sequel. As State of

the Union underperformed at the box office, it

was criticized heavily by critics. The first

installment's reception was mixed. The sequel

is titled Triple X State of the... The second

sequel is Triple X Return of Xander Cage. The

current release date for the third film is mid

2010. Well, that's the friggin' third time I've

said that in this episode, dammit. Wow. Shut

up. Getting into the plot of State of the Union.

The original triple -X super spy, Xander Cage,

is reportedly killed in Bora Bora by Sergeant

Cobb's strike team, which can be seen in the

director's cut and release, although Cage is...

Wait. Okay. I need to delete this whole studio.

Sorry, folks, this is... One hell of a train

wreck so far in this episode! So, the second

film. A man is tending an equine farm when he

discovers dead bodies and is killed by an assailant

himself. Meanwhile, attackers use special explosives

to break into the NSA bunker beneath the equine

farm. There, NSA agent Gibbons fends off the

attackers before barely escaping himself. Lieutenant

Colonel Cobb is later revealed to be responsible

for the attack on the bunker. Plato Gibbons poses

as Darius Stone's lawyer and makes a deal with

him in prison. Stone, who had been in prison

at Livingworth for assaulting Deckard, makes

a daring escape. Stone is later told to recover

a hard drive from NSA bunker while trying to

escape Agent Kyle at the same time. And he's

rescued by Gibbons' assistant Toby Lee Shavers.

Sometime later, Gibbons appears to be attacking

his home and killed, with Deckard covering up

the plot. Afterwards, Stone meets up with Gibbons'

contact Charlie to get information to go to her

safe house about his frame, so that it could

appear that he murdered three -star -class A

-Bone, whom Cobb and Charlie actually killed.

Um, yeah. Sometimes I really fucking hate Wikipedia.

Oh yeah. Well, they don't give an accurate...

This plot synopsis is accurate, but it doesn't

give any indication of who the characters are.

Darius Stone, who was played by... I was going

to say Xander Cage, who was played by... Ice

Cube is the new Triple X. They bring back Givens

and Shavers and they actually bring in, for agent

Kyle Steele, they bring in friggin' Scott Speedman

from Felicity. Oh nice. Which he plays a really

good NSA agent, I'm not saying it's a bad thing

but the whole scene with the attack on the bunker.

They have this remote control disc thing, flying

disc thing that has guns on it and a camera,

and it's looking for gibbons. And of course he

breaks it. One of these similarities is his...

I know you've seen the first one. In the first

one, the left side of his face is all scarred

up. In this one, it's made to look like he's

gotten some work done on it, so it's less noticeable.

It's still there. The scarring is still there.

But this film gives more backstory to him and

to Stone. Apparently, Stone was part of his troop

over in Kosovo. And Secretary of Defense George

Deckard, who was played by Willem Dafoe, was

their general, was their overseer over there,

and apparently they had a dispute over a fire

he started. So getting back to the plot here.

Police arrive and Agent Kyle enters the house

and makes a deal with Stone, while Toby later

hacks into the NSA to retrieve Deckard's plans.

Afterwards, Stone infiltrates Deckard's troops.

aboard an aircraft carrier and discovers Givens

is not dead but being held prisoner by Deckard.

Stone is discovered by Charlie. Givens orders

him to escape and leave him before escaping.

Stone has a run with Cobb and is revealed that

Deckard is trying to overthrow the president.

Stone along with Toby enlist the aid of some

of his former gang members to fight Deckard's

force. After carjacking the tank, Stone helps

Kyle and some agents infiltrate the Capitol building

after some gunfights in which Charlie is killed

while liberty is given. Deckard with Cobb abducts

the president while he is making the State of

the Union address. They escape on a bullet train.

Stone pursues the bullet train with the Ford

Shelby Cobra concept car and after blowing up

Cobb fights Deckard while helping the president

escape in an adjacent helicopter. Stone leaps

from the fleeing train while Givens destroys

it with a missile, killing Deckard, the flaming

wreckage from the train -like stone silhouette

as he dives into the river below, narrowly avoiding

the wreckage that plunges after him. The President

awards Agent Kyle Christopher Steele and the

unknown soldier who is Stone the Congressional

Medal of Honor. As Stone goes back to his lifestyle,

Deckard receives a full honor at his funeral.

Somewhat to Stone's disgust, he and Lola part

with her leaving him the Mustang, and he drives

off. The Triple X tattoo can be seen on the back

of his neck. The film ends at a cliffhanger,

just as Gibbons is about to reveal the next candidate

for the Triple X position. You have to really

watch this film to really get it. That was a

shitty, shitty synopsis. I would like everybody

to know that I did not write that. If I wrote

that, I would have put way more detail into it

than that. I mean, my synopsis for this film

would have been at least two and a half, three

pages long. Oh, yeah. Well, no, I mean, it basically

jumbled everything together. It did not give

you any full character. They just say Agent Kyle.

His name is Kyle Christopher Steele. You know,

they didn't give you any who played what like

in the first film up. Oh God Wikipedia pisses

me off sometimes So running down the cast list

really quick. You have ice cube played by our

you have ice cube who plays Darius stone slash

triple like Samuel Jackson who is Givens Willem

Dafoe plays George Decker Scott Speedman Who

is agent Scott Kyle Steele? Peter Strauss who

plays President James Sanford. Exhibit plays

Zeke. Michael Roof who returns as Toby Lee Shavers.

Sunny Marbury who is Charlie Mayweather. Oh my

god, she is hot. Anyway, Nona Gay plays Lola

Jackson. John G. Connolly is Sergeant Alabama

Cobb. And Ramon D. Ocampo is Agent Meadows. the

exchange between Stone and Cobb during the there's

a whole tank scene on the aircraft carrier where

They're talking trash to each other and they

go. Oh, what's the line? How does he say? Don't

know I'll have to put it in the audio I'll have

to get it for the audio because but it's a really

funny line. It's something about Stone calls

him a hillbilly and then Cobb calls him a homeboy

There is a soundtrack containing hip -hop and

alternative rock was released on April 26 2005

through jive records it peaked at number 117

on the billboard 248 on the top rmb hip -hop

I'm on the top soundtracks As far as reception,

Little Film was expected to be one of the summer

blockbusters of 2005. It performed poorly both

critically and financially. Rotten Tomatoes scores

it as a rotten 16 % as of October 4th, 2008.

Boo Allen of the Denton Record Chronicle called

Ice Cube's version of Triple X a chubby, surly,

incomprehensible action hero. Brian Or North,

I don't know how you say that, of FilmJerk .com

compared to watching the movie to running head

first at tough speed into a brick wall. Basically

it got crappy reviews. Overall, maybe it's just

because it was... This film was at home was set

in in the United States and it was it had more

of a patriotic feel this is basically For me

this is basically National Treasure 2 with ice

even though it's not National Treasure 2 Yeah,

you know, it's that same type of like I I got

more sentiment out of National Treasure 2 because

it had to deal with the the Lincoln assassination

and and basically US history This is the same

kind of premise where it's you know somebody

is trying to overthrow the US government Which

I kind of like that plot a lot more than Destroying

the world with a biological weapon Yeah Overall

I I would give this film For the action scenes

that it has and for the stunts, I would give

it a 8 out of 10. For the story, I would probably

give it a 6 out of 10. Again, this is one I will

recommend because I like it. I'm not going to

say that everybody will like this, but I did.

And there are a lot of comparisons and contrasts

and there's a lot of continuity brought over

from the first film. And here's hoping the third

one does does very well. Oh, yes. Yes So did

even though even though there is a completely

shitty Synopsis by wiki did did that one? Did

that make you want to go out and find it and

at least watch it once? Yeah, at least go out

and try and you know watch it once I don't know

if I watch it again, but yeah, yeah I think we're

going to move on to the closing. Thank you all

for being here today. I've called this press

conference on behalf of myself, Ron Algarwat,

and my co -creator, Matt Robotham, to inform

you that once the current run of our award -winning

webcomic, Vengeance of the Intermen, is finished

at the end of this year, we are hereby retiring

from comics. No more webcomics for us. So that's

why we brought you here, and we will now take

your questions. Um, uh, Al? Hmm? Uh, we, uh,

there's, uh, there's no one here. There's nobody

here. There's, there's nobody here. Nobody, uh,

nobody read the comic. Oh. At, at all. Ever.

Well, we're doing a podcast now. Yeah, we are

doing a podcast now. The Sarcastic Voyage Podcast.

Available via iTunes or on the web at Algar .com.

Thank you for joining us here on Movie Week in

Review. There are several ways to get into contact

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you enjoyed this episode of M -Wire and wish

that you will join us next time when we will

be reviewing the Bourne franchise. That's right,

Jason Bourne is coming to M -Wire. For now, I,

well, he's not. I wish Matt Damon would come

on this show, but gee, I'm not really. If you

wouldn't like with... With... Steve. Megatron

Phillips saying the moral words of Elizabeth

shoe don't fuck with the babysitter. Thank you

for listening until next time