10 Most Underrated Movies Of 2017 (So Far)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 43%

It would be impossible to look anyone in the eye and pretend that XXX: Return of Xander Cage is anything other than really, really dumb. It's a big and ludicrous explosion of pure stupidity, engineered to melt your brain to the max. Why did the critics show a level of distain for this film, though, when they're so eager to heap praise on literally everything that the Fast and Furious franchise puts out?

There is a clear difference between XXX: Return of Xander Cage and Furious 8, to cite an example, in that the latter is purposely grandiose on the subject of loyalty and family, whereas the former is content to be only ridiculous. It works, though, and what we finally got was the XXX movie that the original should have been fifteen years ago when it landed in theatres and we all went home disappointed.

The point of the movie clearly appears to have been, "Let's make an action movie so ridiculous that even the Fast and Furious movies can't keep up," and to their credit the filmmakers hit their target (and then some) when it comes to preposterous set pieces. But there also fun and interesting secondary characters here that give the movie a bit of spice, enough overseas exploits to give James Bond a run for his money, and endless wisecracks - the kind to make you both cringe and smile.

Critically, XXX was panned for being the one thing it obviously set out to be: stupid. With a pizza and a few beers, though, you couldn't ask for better viewing.