The trailer for this threequel promised dumb fun, but in reality the phrase 'dumb fun' barely covers the sort of bombastic action entertainment this extreme sports-themed flick delivers. The Fast and Furious franchise appears steeped in rock-solid physics by comparison. Yet there's a heavy tongue-in-cheek tone that ensures the utter ridiculousness of it all is playful and enjoyable, rather than eye-rolling and pretentious, á la the recent Point Break remake. The light-heartedness goes so far as to include cheeky cameos, colourful character intro screens and a few meta-jokes about The Avengers, which, along with the amount of fun the entire cast seem to be having, gives licence to the sheer insanity of the set pieces. There's a grenade party game, skateboarding on the side of a bus, sniping whilst hanging from a tree, fighting in a free-falling military transport plane, jumping over moving cars on a highway, and motorbike skiing at the beach. And that's only a tiny glimpse of what's on display. Headlining the titular comeback, Vin Diesel is clearly having a blast in hero-with-an-attitude mode—think Dominic Toretto but without the solemn family-first moral code—whilst his multicultural co-stars do their best to ham it up in the best way possible. Bollywood star Deepika Padukone is full-on femme fatale, martial arts legend Donnie Yen is a laidback arse-kicker, Aussie Ruby Rose oozes next-gen sexuality, acting vet Toni Collette snarls with glee, Nina Dobrev gives good perky nerd, and Samuel L. Jackson does, well, Samuel L. Jackson. The guiltiest of guilty pleasures, xXx: Return of Xander Cage offers up an unapologetically ludicrous action film that earns bonus points for poking fun at itself.
