It seemed inevitable that Sony would try to cash in on their urban James Bond creation and thus, xXx: State Of The Union was created.  As to “Why?” is anyone’s guess: it’s just as laughable, outrageous, and predictable as its predecessor…and successfully put an end to the modern Blaxploitation Action franchise with one swift stroke.

Oddly enough, there are a few pluses here: instead of Vin Diesel, we get Ice Cube (a mediocre actor at best, but he still makes Vin look like Max Von Sydow).  As opposed to the all-male anarchistic nihilists of German industrial group Rammstein, we are treated to the beauties of Bond.  And, in place of director Rob Cohen and his incompetence, the xXx sequel is helmed by everybody’s favorite soliciting transvestite from New Zealand, Lee Tamahori (whose previous job, his one-and-only stint at directing an actual James Bond film resulted in the entire series being rebooted).

OK, so enough bashing, let’s get down to the plot.  Uh…  Hmm...  Er...  Umm...  Well, there’s a lot of stupid dialogue, really stupid stunts, and really really stupid people.  Samuel L. Jackson and the unbearable Michael Roof return from the first movie (hey a paycheck’s a paycheck, right?  Especially when it’s easy money!) and this time team up with the new xXx to foil Willem Dafoe and his scheme to wipe out the president and his entire staff (be my guest, please: in a hundred years or so, the history books will define you as a hero).

Did I mention how stupid the dialogue was?  Some of favorite examples include “There’s no such thing as a dead end!”, “We need firepower.  Do you have anything that shoots bullets?”, and “Welcome to the first tank-jackin’ in history.”  and, of course, the moment where the President of the United States quotes Tupac (the writer here was also responsible for bringing us Mr. & Mrs. Smith, X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and Jumper).

Thank God Sony had the common decency to slap this title onto Blu-ray.  I feel like a void in my life has been filled with quick-drying cement.

Presentation
Well, the movie might not be on anyone’s Top Ten List, but the 1080p 2.40:1 widescreen transfer here sure looks nice and the image here is quite clear (it should make for some good eye candy to most videophiles).  The English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio sounds fairly good, but it ultimately failed to knock my socks off: the action scenes are rather robust, but the few portions of the film in which the actors try to develop the plot by talking came through a little on the soft side for me.  An additional French TrueHD 5.1 track is available and Subtitles are provided in English, English (SDH), and French.

Extras
Several Special Features have been graciously carried over from the earlier DVD release and included here.  First off are two Audio Commentaries: one with Director Lee Tamahori and writer Simon Kinberg and the other with the basement trolls that created the Visual Effects.  Next up is From Convict To Hero - The Making of xXx: State Of The Union (48:46); a Making-Of Featurette (19:39) that contains some Interactive bits; and a couple of Deleted Scenes (2:25) that include some optional Commentary.  Several Previews are tacked on for good measure: the Sony Blu-ray Promo, Redbelt, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, and Resident Evil: Degeneration.  There’s also an Easter Egg somewhere from what I heard (although I wasn’t all that interested in finding it).

The final Bonus (and the only genuine New Feature, too I think) is one of those BD Live things.  I seriously have no idea what the point behind this thing is nor do I plan on connecting the Internet to my PS3 to take a look at.  So there.

The Bottom Line
Not since Blackenstein has there been a motion picture that has all-out dared you to take it as seriously as xXx: State Of The Union.