There's almost a whiff of desperation about XXX, specifically just how much it wants to be a Bond movie for the NuMetal generation - its actually a little bit embarrassing at times and undermines what actually had the potential to be quite a neat spy vehicle for Vin Diesel, at the point his career actually felt like it was going somewhere. Yet it swiftly becomes apparent, much like most Rob Cohen films, it's just pillaging from better-done sources.

It's hard to blame Diesel really because you sense he's having fun as the titular X, laid back yet enjoying one liners and jumping off bridges more than the brooding, monosyllabic brick he plays in most other films. The fault lies with Cohen not nearly giving Diesel a good enough script or story, a bland Euro-baddie plot that you've seen the like of many times before, with Marton Czokas as the usual Eastern European with hair as bad as his plan and Asia Argento as the typical Euro-totty who, oooh, maybe he can't trust - and Samuel L Jackson is, as we all know, way better than all this. Cohen tries to cover this lack of depth up by flashy visuals, bombastic actions sequences (some of which make no sense, like the opening Colombian salvo) and a barrage of metal on the soundtrack, but it's very easy to see through if you've watched enough movies of this ilk.

XXX then is like a moody teenage sibling of a cool, established big brother trying to make out its edgy, youthful and with it when infact it's just a poor imitation of what it pretends to be rebelling against. Diesel is a perfectly decent action star and this is far from his, or Rob Cohen's, worst movie - but it's just so obvious and average, it's hardly worth the bother.