{"id":9262,"date":"2005-07-24T03:28:36","date_gmt":"2005-07-24T00:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/07\/24\/xxx-state-of-the-union\/"},"modified":"2009-07-24T21:53:20","modified_gmt":"2009-07-24T19:53:20","slug":"xxx-state-of-the-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/07\/24\/xxx-state-of-the-union\/","title":{"rendered":"xXx: State of the Union"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0329774\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"11687\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/07\/24\/xxx-state-of-the-union\/xxx_state_of_the_union\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/07\/xxx_state_of_the_union.jpg?fit=227%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"227,400\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"XXX : State of the Union\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/07\/xxx_state_of_the_union.jpg?fit=227%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11687\" title=\"XXX : State of the Union\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/07\/xxx_state_of_the_union.jpg?resize=227%2C400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"XXX : State of the Union\" width=\"227\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/07\/xxx_state_of_the_union.jpg?w=227&amp;ssl=1 227w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/07\/xxx_state_of_the_union.jpg?resize=170%2C300&amp;ssl=1 170w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 227px) 100vw, 227px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I wasn&#8217;t very eager to watch &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0329774\">xXx: State of the Union<\/a>&#8220;.  I am trying to be careful with sequels to good movies.  Especially those that don&#8217;t feature the original character anymore.  You can even say that I was avoiding this movie until today.  With its IMDB rating of 3.9 is not surprising&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Directed by:<\/strong> Lee Tamahori<br \/>\n<strong>Genres:<\/strong> Action, Crime, Adventure, Thriller<br \/>\n<strong>Cast:<\/strong> Ice Cube, Samuel L. Jackson, Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman, Peter Strauss, Xzibit, Michael Roof, Sunny Mabrey, Nona Gaye, John G. Connolly, Ramon De Ocampo, Barry Sigismondi, Michael Don Evans, David Rountree, Ned Schmidtke<br \/>\n<strong>IMDB raintg:<\/strong> 3.9<br \/>\n<strong>My rating:<\/strong> 4 stars<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The film is seriously underrated on IMDB.  It&#8217;s not that bad.  It&#8217;s quite good actually.  At least I enjoyed it.<\/p>\n<p>It has the same spirit as the first movie.  It is fast, with lots of action, lots of cool talk and do, and not too much bull to it.  It is a good mix of butt kicking with consipacy theories.<\/p>\n<p>There are three things that could have been improved.<\/p>\n<p>First of all &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0005471\/\">Peter Strauss<\/a>.  He did the lousy job of playing the president of USA.  I think he was the worst movie president that I&#8217;ve seen.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, the movie needed more gadgets.  There were plenty of special cars, special people and special missions.  There was a gadget expert.  But there were practically no gadgets.  That&#8217;s a big minus.  Gadgets on their own can make a movie look cool.  Missing them out levels the film with all the other gadzillion action films.<\/p>\n<p>Third &#8211; computer graphics.  There was an excellent chase involving a high speed train, a car and a few helicopters for example.  It was off the limits completely.  It was a bold move to introduce this chase into the film.  But it should have been done better.  The computer graphics are weak.  They look like the computer game, but there was no indication of the computer game.  Either more effort should have been given to it to look more realistic or it should have been turned into a well defined joke of computer sequence.  As it was, it sucked.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, I am very satisfied with the film.  I wanted to see an action, and I saw it.  Fast, bold, with lots of butt kicking &#8211; exactly the way I like it.<\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!-- google_ad_section_start -->\n<p>I wasn&#8217;t very eager to watch &#8220;xXx: State of the Union&#8220;. I am trying to be careful with sequels to good movies. Especially those that don&#8217;t feature the original character anymore. You can even say that I was avoiding this movie until today. With its IMDB rating of 3.9 is not surprising&#8230; Directed by: Lee &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/07\/24\/xxx-state-of-the-union\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">xXx: State of the Union<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end -->\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1707,1,24],"tags":[2094,2093,2099,2097,1501,2096,2098,1987],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-9262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-stars","category-general","category-movies","tag-ice-cube","tag-lee-tamahori","tag-nona-gaye","tag-peter-strauss","tag-samuel-jackson","tag-scott-speedman","tag-sunny-mabrey","tag-willem-dafoe"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9833,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2006\/01\/15\/mississippi-burning\/","url_meta":{"origin":9262,"position":0},"title":"Mississippi Burning","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"January 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I almost went to bed, when I noticed a movie starting on TV. The opening titles mentioned Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe in main roles and Alan Parker in director chair. Titled \"Mississippi Burning\". I was still considering, so I checked IMDB for the rating. It came up with 7.6,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8397,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2004\/12\/30\/control\/","url_meta":{"origin":9262,"position":1},"title":"Control","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"December 30, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"One of Martin's special skills is finding totally unknown and burried movies, which are actually good. Today I've got one of those films from him - \"Control\". It is one of the most burried movies that I have ever seen. There is no poster on IMDB, no rating (awaiting 5\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11503,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/09\/the-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":9262,"position":2},"title":"The Spirit","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"February 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The trailer for \"The Spirit\" was really nice and I wanted to see the movie.\u00a0 However, when I checked IMDB page and saw the 5.something rating, I got worried.\u00a0 There are many examples when my personal rating differs a lot from the IMDB one, but 5.something is always a cautious\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;3 stars&quot;","block_context":{"text":"3 stars","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/movies\/movie-reviews\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Spirit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/the_spirit.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9835,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2006\/01\/15\/true-romance\/","url_meta":{"origin":9262,"position":3},"title":"True Romance","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"January 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Late television features many nice movies recently. I wonder why. And for how long they will keep it up. Today one of my favourite crime movies of all times was PIK2 - \"True Romance\". Directed by: Tony Scott Genres: Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller Cast: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;5 stars&quot;","block_context":{"text":"5 stars","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/movies\/movie-reviews\/5-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/true_romance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9242,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/07\/18\/once-were-warriors\/","url_meta":{"origin":9262,"position":4},"title":"Once Were Warriors","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"July 18, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I think I have a strike of movie rush once again. Don't worry, it will pass. I know. I had it before. And for now a quick mention of \"Once Were Warriors\". Directed by: Lee Tamahori Genres: Drama Cast: Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Julian Arahanga, Taungaroa Emile, Rachael\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7637,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2004\/07\/04\/the-boondock-saints\/","url_meta":{"origin":9262,"position":5},"title":"The Boondock Saints","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"July 4, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Today we watched \"The Boondock Saints\" on DVD. It is a very nice movie with a fast pace, good acting and an excellent soundtrack. Actually, everything was pretty good except for the Russians, which is my rather usual complain. :) Interesting was the fact how the movie started and ended.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;All&quot;","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9262"},{"taxonomy":"keyring_services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyring_services?post=9262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}