2000s Action Sequel Flop Replaced Its Star Gets Second Chance It Deserves On Netflix

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 19 seconds ago

In the 2000’s, Vin Diesel didn’t want to do any sequels. 2 Fast 2 Furious replaced him with Tyrese Gibson, and XXX: State of the Union stuck Ice Cube in his palace as a new recruit in Samuel L. Jackson’s secret program. The 2005 sequel to Diesel’s extreme reimagining of secret agent movies was a flop and more evidence that audiences fell in love with Diesel, and not fast cars or skateboarding down a mountain to break into a terrorist cell. Now that XXX: State of the Union is on Netflix and its far removed from the crushing disappointment of Ice Cube’s casting it can be streamed and judged on its own merits as an action movie. And it’s….not bad! 

Ice Cube Is No Vin Diesel

Ice Cube’s Darius Stone isn’t a video gaming playing extreme athlete like Diesel’s Xander Cage, instead he’s a disgraced Navy SEAL serving time in a military prison for breaking the jaw of General Deckert (Willem Dafoe). The swagger Cube brings to his portrayal of Stone is very different from the anti-authority attitude Diesel brought to Cage. Instead of moving like the coolest guy in the room, Stone moves like the toughest guy in the room. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just different.

Under the leadership of Agent Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) as part of the XXX program, stone uncovers a government conspiracy, is framed for murder, goes up against his old SEAL unit, and naturally, blows up a lot of Washington D.C. in the process. As far as action movie plots go, there’s nothing revolutionary about it, which is why audiences rejected it as a XXX sequel.

State Of The Union Is A Traditional Action Movie

XXX hit in 2002 at the perfect time when the James Bond style of spy movies had already been parodied by Austin Powers and The X Games were turning into must-watch TV. In the movie’s opening scene, a tuxedo-clad spy is murdered because he can’t blend into a Rammstein concert. The world had changed. Culture had changed. Spy action movies remained the same. XXX: State of the Union was a step back. A well-crafted one with a great closing set piece (trains are always awesome), but a step back. 

Giving more screen time to Samuel L. Jackson wasn’t the answer, and the petty in-universe explanation that Xander Cage was killed in Bora Bora turned off a lot of fans. Combined, the XXX sequel failed to earn back its production budget. It’s no wonder that the franchise was put on ice until 2017’s XXX: Return of Xander Cage. 

Ice Cube deserved better. His cameo in the third film caused theaters to erupt, which seems ironic given how they rejected his original appearance as Darius Stone, but between 2005 and 2017, 21 Jump Street happened. Ice Cube wasn’t meant to play the anti-authority rebel, he was meant to play the put-upon authority dealing with everyone who refuses to play by the book. Unlike his comedies, XXX: State of the Union is perfectly acceptable entertainment. At least it’s not as bad as Ghosts of Mars.