| Trailer Trash 007 |
October
2002 |
The Rise of Vin Diesel
"The name is Diesel, Vin Diesel." That was the only James Bond ploy that the new Action Hero, Vin Diesel, did not pull in his latest film. Triple X, or "XXX" to be thoroughly misleading as to content, was the box office winner my son dragged me to recently. And while the film was a 007 flick for the tractor-pull set, its style and reverence for the original kept it from being a rip-off, and Mr. Diesel was just engaging enough not to be the next Stallone -- Mr. Diesel can enunciate.
The film has gadgets stuffed into a car (how like his previous movie "The Fast and The Furious"), beautiful women, an evil genius nemesis, and Samuel L. Jackson in the role of "M", or whatever lame name the character was given. Diesel even parachutes to safety at one stage with a canopy awash in Stars and Stripes -- patriotism notwithstanding, the Union Jack looks better as a parachute.
But Diesel doesn't appear to take himself seriously; he's more Roger than Sean in the film. And he's credible as an outcast press-ganged into espionage.
The kid has made me see far less diverting movies. And while Diesel may never make a speech that starts, "I'd like to thank the Academy," he will be around for a long, long time.