Vin Diesel’s 2002 action moviexXxis a hit on streaming, giving audiences another chance to discover the wild adventure. Following thesuccess ofThe Fast and the Furious, Diesel sought to cement his status as Hollywood’s newest action movie star by taking on the lead role as Xander Cage.
FromThe Fast and the Furiousdirector Rob Cohen, the movie followed Cage, a daredevil extreme sports star who is recruited by the government to become a spy. Though the film received mixed reviews from critics, scoring 48% onRotten Tomatoes, it was a box office hit, earning close to $280 million worldwide (viaBox Office Mojo).
However, unlike some ofDiesel’s other big blockbusters, his role as Xander Cageisn’t talked about much decades after its release. With the new popularity on streaming, and the audience’s love of big stunts, like intheMission: Impossiblemovies, Cagecould start to get more of the attention he deserves.
Vin Diesel Pull Off Ridiculous Stunts As Xander Cage
The Movie Embraces Over-The-Top Action
The premise of Vin Diesel playing a spy who has a penchant for extreme sports sets the movie up for some wild stunt sequences. WhiletheFast and Furiousmovies became known for the over-the-top action sequencesas the franchise went on, the Xander Cage storystarted off as a wild and outrageous action flick that delivered some fantastic moments of thrills. The fact that Diesel performed several of these stunts on his own is even more impressive.
Director Rob Cohen said in an interview thatwhen it came to performing the stunt himself, Diesel was very enthusiastic while the director was hesitant. In the end, Cohen suggested that (viaHollywood Archives):
“I think the thing is that Vin did more than he should have, but less than he wanted to.”
During a scene in which Xander attempts to outrun an avalanche on a snowboard, Diesel performed one of the jumps himself and landed on his head. There are some other spectacular scenes, likethe opening stunt in which Xander drives a sports car off a bridge and parachutes off it.
There’s also a standout scene in which Xander drives a dirt bike over the roof of a building as the building explodes. As ridiculous and chaotic as the stunts are, they add to the wild fun of the movie.
There’s An Entire Underrated Xander Cage Franchise
There Have Been Three Movies To Date
Despite the fact that itdoesn’t get as much attention as theFast and Furiousfranchise, Xander Cage has spawned his own series of movies, albeit a much smaller one. Interestingly, it also mirrors Diesel’sFast and Furiousjourney as well.
Following the success of the original movie, a sequel was ordered but just asDiesel declined to return for2 Fast 2 Furious, the actor decided to step away from Xander Cage as well. As a result,State of the Unionopened with Xander Cage’s apparent death, leading to the search for a new agent. Ice Cube’s Darius Stone, an incarcerated ex-Navy SEAL, takes on the job, facing off with Willem Dafoe in the villain role.
However,just like withtheFast and the Furioustimeline, Diesel made his way back to the franchise forReturn of Xander Cage. He even took a page out ofFast Five’s successas he incorporated the rest of the series and had Ice Cube cameo as Stone.
It Doesn’t Look Like We’re Getting A Fourth Movie
The Franchise Seems To Be Done
Unlike Vin Diesel’s return to theFast and Furiousfranchise, the Xander Cage franchise did not see a major resurgence with the actor stepping back into the action. WhileReturn of Xander Cagewas met with the same mixed critical response, it ended up outgrossing both of the previous movies in the franchise. Despite this,there has been no movement on a fourth movie and it seems as though the franchise is finished.
WithReturn of Xander Cageproving to be a hit, it seems like if there was any real interest in continuing the franchise, it would have happened already.
The latest update coming from the franchise was a disappointing one as Ruby Rose, who appeared as Adele Wolff in the third movie, revealed that there have beenno talks about a fourth Xander Cage movie:
I haven’t heard anything. I haven’t heard anything since 1974 (laughs). No, I don’t know. I would hope so because I would love to work with that cast and crew again. [They’re] incredible people. I think Vin’s busy doing lots of Fast and The Furious 312 and I don’t know, but that would be, that was another really fun mission movie, I guess might’ve been my only other real mission movie, but very different tonally than Dirty Angels. Dirty Angels is a much more serious film.
While it could be that there is movement behind the scenes that Rose is not aware of, it has been nearly a decade since the lastmovie. WithReturn of Xander Cageproving to be a hit, it seems like if there was any real interest in continuing the franchise, it would have happened already. Indeed, Diesel is likely focused onfinishing theFast and Furiousfranchiseand has already left theXander Cageworld behind.
