xXx is the first movie in the xXx franchise. It was written by Rich Wilkes, directed by Rob Cohen, and released in Summer of 2002. The movie stars Vin Diesel as Xander Cage, an extreme sports athlete who becomes a top secret agent for the NSA "XXX Program." He is recruited by Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) to take down a Russian terrorist group known as Anarchy 99.
This movie was followed by a sequel starring Ice Cube in 2005 titled XXX: State of the Union. It was explained that Diesel's character Xander Cage had died in a short film titled The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage. Diesel would later return to the role for the third film in the franchise, XXX: Return of Xander Cage in 2017.
Plot[]
A biochemical weapon, "Silent Night," presumed missing since the fall of the Soviet Union, is obtained by Anarchy 99, a Russian terrorist group with formal military training. The NSA send an undercover agent to recover the weapon, but Anarchy 99's skills easily see through the deception and assassinate him.
NSA Agent Augustus Gibbons suggests that they need to send someone who lacks ties to the US government. Gibbons identifies Xander Cage, an extreme sports professional known as "XXX (Triple X)" but also wanted by the FBI for his acts of protest against a leading senator. Gibbons's team abducts Cage, and puts him through two field tests, stopping a staged diner robbery, and escaping from a Colombian cartel's plantation in the midst of an army raid. Cage passes, and Gibbons offers him the job, promising to wipe his criminal records clean or otherwise sending him to prison. Cage reluctantly accepts the job.
Cage is sent to Prague to meet with the NSA support team, which includes Czech agent Milan Sova. Sova has been tasked to watch Cage and deport him back to America should he fall out of line, quickly riling Cage. During their first task, scouting an Anarchy 99 party, Cage purposely identifies Sova as a police officer to Anarchy 99's leader, Yorgi, earning him favor with the group, which is enhanced when Yorgi's brother Kolya reveals he is a fan of Cage. Cage tells Yorgi that he is in the club to make a deal with Yorgi about high-end sports cars. Cage hands him the list and Yorgi immediately identifies that the tenth car on the list, a 1967 Pontiac GTO would be hard to find in Europe. When he hands the list to Yelena, his girlfriend and lieutenant, she and Cage have an argument about the price of the deal. At the end of their argument, Cage asks her about an account number and is provided with one.
The next morning, Gibbons calls Cage about changes to the list of cars, but is impressed when Cage gives them loads of information on Anarchy 99, thanks to Kolya eagerly providing to please his idol. Impressed by his work, Gibbons sends tech-specialist Agent Toby Shavers, who provides Cage with a special revolver, binoculars that can see through walls and explosives disguised as bandages. Later, Cage attends the car deal he made earlier with Yorgi in a warehouse which Sova attempts to intercede. Cage appears to shoot Sova with his special field revolver and kill him. Thus earning him Yorgi's trust and in return, Yorgi makes Cage a member of Anarchy 99; in reality, Cage was able to use fake blood splatter darts to fake Sova's death.
Yorgi brings Cage back to a castle after a dance party at one of his nightclubs that serves as Anarchy 99's headquarters. Cage, while searching for the biochemical weapon, catches Yelena attempting to investigate Yorgi's secret safe. He takes her to a nearby restaurant to discuss the matter, and reveals his true identity. Meanwhile, Sova betrays Cage and reveals his true identity to Yorgi on the phone. Furious, Yorgi sends his trusted sniper Kirill to take Cage out after tracing his location. While watching the pair, Kirill, who is in love with Yelena contacts her to tell her that they already know of Cage's identity, making him a liability to their group. Cage and Yelena stage a fight to escape, but the NSA suddenly appears to capture Cage, while Yelena is taken back to Anarchy 99.
Cage meets with Gibbons in an opera house who demands that he return to America now that his cover is blown, and that special forces are planning to siege the castle to recover the weapon. Cage refuses, fearing for Yelena's life by stating that he sent her back to retrieve more information for Gibbons and his group, as well as being bitter that Sova purposely blew his cover. Later that night, he sneaks into Yorgi's castle to know more about Yorgi's plans. He follows Yorgi into a secret underground lab in the castle overhearing Yorgi's plan to launch "Silent Night" from a water-borne drone named Ahab into several major cities after witnessing Yorgi killing all of the scientists that worked to create the drone and the bio agent by detonating a loaded missile through his special binoculars, Cage flees the area after killing Yorgi's brother Kolya with a special bandage bomb. He goes back to his hideout where he finds Sova waiting for him. He explains that he switched sides because Yorgi offered him more payment than the US Government. Just as he is about to shoot Cage, he is killed from inbound gunfire from the door. Yelena arrives with two men, the Ivans whom Cage had met earlier. She explains that she is an FSB agent that started to get close to Yorgi two years before, but her handlers abandoned her. Cage relays Yorgi's plans to the NSA on the condition that the US Government give Yelena asylum in the country, who prepare a coordinated attack on the castle. Going against orders leaving, Cage gives his car to Shavers and tells him to load it up with as much weaponry as he can. Cage then paratroops from a plane on a snowboard in a snowy region of the Czech Republic where the communication tower of Anarchy 99 is located. Upon chase by the members of the group, he starts an avalanche and in turn destroys the tower used by Anarchy 99 in order to aid the NSA. However, he is captured by Yorgi, who already knew of Yelena's true identity. Just as Yorgi prepares to kill them, the special forces launch their attack. Cage and Yelena free their restraints and Cage kills Yorgi, but not before he launches Ahab, armed with "Silent Night," towards the center of Prague.
Cage contacts Gibbons, who notifies the Czech military to prepare to destroy Ahab with airstrikes, even though this will release some of the gas. Cage and Yelena take his car, now heavily modified by Agent Shavers, to race alongside the river to catch up to Ahab. Cage harpoons the drone and crosses over to it, and is able to disable the weapon moments before it goes off. Cage and Yelena are recovered, and Gibbons follows through on his promises to Cage as well as providing Yelena with American citizenship. Later, Cage and Yelena are relaxing in Bora Bora when Gibbons contact Cage to offer him another mission. Cage ignores him.
Cast[]
- Vin Diesel as Xander Cage / xXx
- Asia Argento as Yelena
- Samuel L. Jackson as NSA Agent Augustus Eugene Gibbons
- Marton Csokas as Yorgi
- Michael Roof as NSA Agent Toby Lee Shavers
- Richy Muller as Milan Sova
- Werner Daehn as Kirill
- Petr Jákl as Kolya
- Jan Pavel Filipensky as Viktor
- Tom Everett as California state senator Dick Hotchkiss
- Danny Trejo as El Jefe
- Thomas Ian Griffith as NSA Agent Jim McGrath
- Eve as J.J.
- Leila Arcieri as Jordan King
- William Hope as NSA Agent Roger Donnan
- Radek Tomecka as Ivan Pedgrag
- Martin Hub as Ivan Podrov
- Joe Bucaro III as Virg
- Chris Gann as T.J.
- Tony Hawk as himself
- Mike Vallely as himself
- Carey Hart as himself
- Mat Hoffman as himself
- Josh Todd as himself
- Rammstein as themselves
Gallery[]
Posters[]
Stills[]
References[]