Vin Diesel’s extreme sports action movie xXx and its sequel xXx: State of the Union (starring Ice Cube instead of Diesel) are now both streaming on Hulu. The woefully-named xXx franchise was one of Diesel’s earliest attempts to jump beyond the Fast and the Furious (while still working with director Rob Cohen); the first xXx arrived in 2002, just one year after Diesel had become a breakout star in Fast and the Furious (2001). However, both Diesel and Cohen curiously passed on sequels to both xXx and Fast and the Furious, seemingly leaving both on the path for bargain bin infamy.ย
However, like with The Fast and Furious franchise, Vin Diesel has taken a long circle back to the xXx franchise: a third film that once again featured Diesel in the lead (Return of Xander Cage) was released in 2017, and earned $346 million off a budget of $85 million, and helped bring a collection of international stars (including Donnie Yen, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, and Nina Dobrev) together into what was clearly more of a Fast & Furious formula for the franchise. A fourth xXx film was announced after the success of xXx 3, but it’s status is very much unclear at this point…ย
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So, that’s all the motivation needed to watch the original xXx films if you haven’t already. You can find synopses for both films, below:ย
xXx (2002) – “Xander ‘XXX’ Cage (Vin Diesel) is a thrill seeker who until now has been deemed untouchable by the law. NSA Agent Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) forces XXX to cooperate with the government to infiltrate an underground Russian crime ring, and avoid going to prison. Gibbons sends XXX to enter this world of crime undetected where others have failed, using his natural athletic prowess and a whole lot of attitude. Xander must combat an organization led by a clever, ruthless and nihilistic Yorgi whose first target is the city of Prague.”
xXx: State of the Union (2005) – “Agent Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) has selected an imprisoned former US Navy SEAL Darius Stone (Ice Cube), a new agent in the XXX program, travels to Washington D.C., where they track a splinter faction of the U.S. military that attempts to overthrow the U.S. government and assassinate the President, led by Secretary of Defense and former 4-Star General George Deckert, Stone’s former commanding officer whom he once led a mutiny against. But he’s been targeted for assassination by a radical splinter group of dissenters deep within the United States government. The new XXX agent must uncover the insurgents from within. It is the nation’s only hope to stop the first coup d’etat in American history.
You can watch the original xXx movies on Hulu.ย
