10 Terrible Movies Everybody Loves
6. XXX
Outside of a small role in Saving Private Ryan, Vin Diesel has never really found himself in any particularly dramatic pictures. His rise to fame, before he really found his niche with Fast and Furious, was down to two back-to-back cinematic schlock pieces: Pitch Black and, of course, the movie to ruin all your Google image search terms: xXx.
In this 2000s EXTREME twist on the spy thriller, Diesel gets gadgets, fancy cars and hot women all to use as props in this spotlighted action flick of ridiculous proportions. There’s about as much subtlety and substance in xXx as ithe name would suggest, kicking off the proceedings with a live performance with pyrotechnic metal band Rammstein and then Diesel destroying the car of a politician who tried to ban rap music.
It only gets more and more chest-beatingly masculine from there.
Critics found all kinds of different takes with the film, with some actually appraising it for its commitment to its silliness and others merely bored by its inability to do anything truly new. Its infantile plot and hard lean into the male gaze of “women and horse power” is astounding, and what’s more shocking is that the end product is actually still just stupid, easy fun.