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May. 6th, 2005 10:09 amI saw XXX last night and ... I loved it! There are a couple reasons for this that have nothing to do with the quality of the film: 1) I had very low expectations; I was mostly going because Robomark wanted to; 2) It's set almost entirely in DC, and while some aspects of that are less successful than others (the houses that make up the backdrop to the ghetto scenes look more like Baltimore than DC; someone talks about Southside DC -- say what? Southeast DC, very much so. Southside DC? Not so much. That's like saying Southside LA instead of South Central), I'm still enough of a Taxation-Without-Representation girl that I **loved** the prospect of ( something very SPOILERy ); and 3) the film itself had no pretensions whatsoever -- to the point that every stirring speech is followed by a self-deprecating disclaimer. Its reach did not exceed its grasp.
The acting throughout is ... fine, but not better than that. Samuel L. Jackson and Willem Dafoe could play their roles in their sleep. Ice Cube was kinda stone-faced, but it worked. Scott Speedman adequately conveyed the things he needed to convey, and Xzibit was competent enough for what he was called on to do. And certain aspects of the plot are smarter than they seem at first glance. Dafoe says something about knowing Jackson's moves before he makes them, and if you think about it, he really *does*, his whole plan is based on correct prediction of Jackson's behavior. And I really liked Nona Gaye (though I hated, *hated*, the Cleopatra wig they kept making her wear): She looked like a real-live woman, not a crazy Hollywood babe.
But the last 30 minutes of the movie were ... well, suspension of disbelief is just not adequate. My disbelief was put into some kind of cryogenic stasis, like whatever they did to Han Solo in SW:Ep 5. Because ( there's just no way to explain this without massive SPOILERS. )
Oh, and I can't forget the music: During a very pumped-up scene, I suddenly realized I recognized the words to the background track -- it was a cover of "Fight the Power." (I checked the credits, and it was Korn with Xzibit.) And then later there was song that I just knew had to be Chuck D, and it turns out it was Moby and Public Enemy doing something called MKLVFKWR. I don't know that I'll actually want the soundtrack album, but I just might get those two off iTunes.
The acting throughout is ... fine, but not better than that. Samuel L. Jackson and Willem Dafoe could play their roles in their sleep. Ice Cube was kinda stone-faced, but it worked. Scott Speedman adequately conveyed the things he needed to convey, and Xzibit was competent enough for what he was called on to do. And certain aspects of the plot are smarter than they seem at first glance. Dafoe says something about knowing Jackson's moves before he makes them, and if you think about it, he really *does*, his whole plan is based on correct prediction of Jackson's behavior. And I really liked Nona Gaye (though I hated, *hated*, the Cleopatra wig they kept making her wear): She looked like a real-live woman, not a crazy Hollywood babe.
But the last 30 minutes of the movie were ... well, suspension of disbelief is just not adequate. My disbelief was put into some kind of cryogenic stasis, like whatever they did to Han Solo in SW:Ep 5. Because ( there's just no way to explain this without massive SPOILERS. )
Oh, and I can't forget the music: During a very pumped-up scene, I suddenly realized I recognized the words to the background track -- it was a cover of "Fight the Power." (I checked the credits, and it was Korn with Xzibit.) And then later there was song that I just knew had to be Chuck D, and it turns out it was Moby and Public Enemy doing something called MKLVFKWR. I don't know that I'll actually want the soundtrack album, but I just might get those two off iTunes.