XXX (Superbit) (DVD)

...and don'ts' list then with xXx you can do no wrong.

This is a Superbit release, which means it differs from the regular version in a number of ways. It is quite literally the best version you could own of xXx as far as sound and picture go. It is UK R2 which means PAL and not the inferior R1 NTSC version. The picture is absolutely crystal clear, flawless and diamond sharp, with lustrous colour tones. Reds and oranges are rich and ...
...both ways.
3. Rabid xXx or Vin Diesel fans without big screens who just have to own everything related to xXx. You will never need to watch your regular two-disk version after this, but I'd recommend throwing away that R1 full-screen edition, you sad, sad man.

Essentially this is the finest version of a movie that is low on quality but high on adrenaline and daft fun. Despite seeming a little tame and kiddie friendly, seemingly ... more

(Please note, this review is my own work and was originally written for a now inactive website called DVDDebate.com)

OK, here's the trailer part.

Vin Diesel plays Xander Cage, an extreme sports outlaw with a bad attitude. But then one day, the unfortunately named Agent Gibbons (Played with grit by Samuel L. Jackson) makes him an offer he can't refuse: become an NSA field agent and spy on some wicked Russian defectors holed up in Prague. The reason? Their former agent (essentially James Bond) had no clue who he was dealing with and simply looked out of place in their grungy, tattooed world. He met a sticky end and now they need Cage, or 'Triple X' as Gibbons dubs him, to get extreme on their anarchist asses or the world is doomed… probably.

The main feature is as cheap and silly as this premise sounds. It is designed solely with a brain-dead teenage fan-base in mind. It is filled to bursting with crazy stunts, hot babes, huge guns and wisecracks, held together with a thumping nu-metal soundtrack. As retarded as it seems, it is actually quite fun, and you certainly find yourself rooting for X as he charms his way into everybody's sphere of influence with his grizzly yet affable presence. He seems to know just the right thing to say in every situation, despite having the brain of a seventeen year old. It is a wet dream for the skater generation, but another nail in the coffin marked 'Vin Diesel's artistic integrity'. Since David Twohy's 'Pitch Black', we have seen his performances continuously watered down from barely restrained psychopath to lovable rogue. It was hoped that Riddick's re-emergence in the soon to be released 'Chronicles' to put him back to the pinnacle of modern-day hard men that he once occupied - ah well, you win some, you lose some.

If you like your explosions big and orange, your women feisty and foxy, your thinking moments few and far between and your acting straight out of Jerry Bruckheimer's "do's and don'ts' list then with xXx you can do no wrong.

This is a Superbit release, which means it differs from the regular version in a number of ways. It is quite literally the best version you could own of xXx as far as sound and picture go. It is UK R2 which means PAL and not the inferior R1 NTSC version. The picture is absolutely crystal clear, flawless and diamond sharp, with lustrous colour tones. Reds and oranges are rich and energetic and the whole movie is a perfect demonstration of what the digital format can do. So much kinetic action and so many explosions, with close-ups of the main characters' faces and glinting metal. Cohen has a pronounced visual flair which lends itself perfectly to the Superbit process. Every frame is rendered to the highest quality, without a hint of misting, ghosting or blips. Absolutely reference class.

Like the picture, the audio is superb. The 5.1 Dolby track is clear as a bell and separates the thrashing music from the roar of engines and the clink of shell casings hitting concrete with effortless panache. However to really appreciate the size of things, whack on the DTS track and feel the rumble of helicopters across your living room floor. It made the house vibrate. The slight short fall of the DTS is a reduced amount of clarity in the spatial pick-ups. Little sounds are not as pronounced or as clearly directed to the surround channels. I have found this often on DTS. It is always one louder but the spatial experience is better in 5.1.

Really, the buyers of this disk are going to fall into three categories:
1. People who love the film and already own it, but also have a projection TV or a huge Sony Wega or similar top-range system. The differences between the picture on this and the regular R2 version were not possible to spot from loading one up and then the other. You really would need a huge screen for it to make much of a change. On two identical screens side by side, I'm sure the difference would be possible to detect, but it is not really enough to justify not having any extras. If you don't love the film but do own a projection TV, you can probably afford to buy this anyway and get the two-disk set afterwards if you want some extras. You lucky sod!
2. People who don't care that much about extras. There are a surprising number of you out there who just don't have time to trawl through an extended trailer style making-of, a dull commentary, two music videos from risibly bad metal groups and a deconstruction of the many stunts in the picture. If this is the case then you know which one to get. You will benefit from the improved picture and sound even if it is only subliminally. It is cheaper than the two-disk version so you benefit both ways.
3. Rabid xXx or Vin Diesel fans without big screens who just have to own everything related to xXx. You will never need to watch your regular two-disk version after this, but I'd recommend throwing away that R1 full-screen edition, you sad, sad man.

Essentially this is the finest version of a movie that is low on quality but high on adrenaline and daft fun. Despite seeming a little tame and kiddie friendly, seemingly wearing it's 12 rating with pride, this movie will sit neatly beside all of the other brightly coloured spines in your action movie collection. If you are buying it for your huge home cinema system, you will always have something incredible to show granny when she chastises you for spending thirty grand on a telly. Just make sure you are there to catch her when the DTS blows her off her feet. Not Diesel's finest hour by any means, but a totally extreme trip nonetheless. 

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