Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Vin Diesel Returning to "xXx"

I have read several articles confirming that Vin Diesel is making a return to the "xXx" series. A good idea, maybe, seeing as his latest movie, "Babylon AD" is tanking at the box office. I like this guy, but I feel sorry for him, and I will tell you why. In 2000, Diesel had his fist commercially successful film, the awesome "Pitch Black". He then followed that with "The Fast And The Furious" which was also a good film. Then he did "xXx" which was fun, but totally over the top. But then he started a slow downward spiral. He followed "xXx" with "A Man Apart" which did lousy business, then "The Chronicles Of Riddick", which was a return to the great character of Riddick, and a really good sci-fi movie, but it was so different than "Pitch Black" and I think that is why audiences avoided it, and so it did not do well at the box office ($57 million domestic). Then came "The Pacifier", which did well at the box office ($100 million domestic) but his tough guy image was tarnished. Then came "Find Me Guilty" which also tanked. He did not do the sequels to "The Fast And The Furious" or "xXx", and that, in my opinion was a mistake. Sure he had a cameo in "The Fast And The Furious:Tokyo Drift" and although it was the best thing in that movie, it was not his movie. So now with his latest movie bombing, he is returning to a tarnished franchise. As I said before, the first "xXx" movie was an over the top, but fun movie. The second one, "xXx:State Of The Union" was terrible. no offense to Ice Cube, who is a good actor in his own right, but it sucked, and did not do well at the box office. So now the question is, do people really want to see a sequel to a bad sequel? Is Diesel's name enough to make people want to return to the theaters to see this? Sure, it was said in the second "xXx" that Diesel's character had died, but in the spy world that means nothing, and you never saw him die, so he is easily brought back. He is also doing a fourth installment of "The Fast And The Furious", simply called "Fast And Furious", and I have seen the trailer and It looks kick ass. But it may not be enough. I don't want to see Vin Diesel go the direct to video route, but I really think it will take one heck of an awesome movie to bring him back to the status he used to have. His first few movies were hits, and when you start off on top like that, the sad truth is you have a hard time keeping that status, especially if you are an action star. I wish him luck, it is going to be a rough road back.

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