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XXX The troika behind the 2001 sleeper smash The Fast and the Furious -- star Vin Diesel, director Rob Cohen and producer Neal H. Moritz -- has reunited for another disreputable genre flick that's even more trashy yet also more fun than their previous outing. Diesel, staking his claim as the most popular bald leading man since the heyday of Yul Brynner, plays Xander Cage, a modern outlaw and extreme sports enthusiast who gets pressed into serving his country by a sharp government agent (Samuel L. Jackson). Cage's assignment takes him into the heart of an Eastern European outfit scheming to topple all existing world powers and allowing anarchy to reign. The film's tagline is "A New Breed Of Secret Agent," and in that respect, they got it right: With an attitude that's surly rather than suave and sporting elaborate tattoos over most of his body, Diesel's Xander Cage would never be mistaken for James Bond or even Austin Powers. Yet along with a new breed of secret agent, this movie could have benefited from a new breed of secret agent plotline, but instead this magnetic character finds himself competing against the usual assortment of dull Eurotrash villains hell-bent on world domination. Still, the stuntwork is aces, even when at the service of absurd action scenarios -- audiences may find themselves simultaneously gasping in awe and hooting in derision at some of the slam-bang set pieces on display. 1/2