Vin Diesel ignited the box office with extreme actioner "xXx", a new kind of spy film for Generation Xbox. It's sure to kick the ass out of your sound system on DVD!

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture This is a crystal clear picture transfer. Razor sharp and vivid with detail, it looks stunning.

Sound You can tell this film came from the same team that brought you "The Fast and the Furious", because just as with that DVD, the rear speakers are bristling with effects. Thunderous bass chews up the subwoofer, especially during the Rammstein techno metal set.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary Director Rob Cohen provides a thoughtful and structured commentary, but decides to open it with a comment that makes you wonder just how many action movies he's seen...

He liked the script because "the action world collides with the spy adventure". Fair enough Rob. But he follows with, "that's probably the f***ing greatest idea that I've ever heard". Way to go Rob, but couldn't you say the same for "True Lies" and the entire Bond series?

"xXx": A Filmmaker's Diary After "The Fast and the Furious" DVD shifted six million units, Rob Cohen sat down and wondered how he could go one better with "xXx". He decided upon a 40-minute, two part documentary on the making of the film. It's hardly a revolutionary idea, but the quality of this presentation is excellent and lacks naff comments and interviews that give away all the fun.

Instead, you get a structured view of the 82-day shoot, which involved a lot of complex stunts and pyrotechnics. Cohen believes that CGI effects are "taking the thrill out of movies", so was determined to do as much live action as possible.

As the shoot moves from LA to Prague, the temperatures plummet and the crew turn into Michelin Man clones. Rob's keen to point out that he wants to film "Prague as Prague", rather than using it as a cheap stand-in for another city.

Deleted Scenes There are ten short deleted scenes with optional commentary from Cohen. Rob thought he'd end up getting an R rating for the movie so decided to shoot some naughty girly action to make it worthwhile. Yes, that's what you'll find here - but anything kinky has been blurred out to keep the DVD certificate low!

Featurettes Three short featurettes cover the set design, as well as the extreme hot-rods seen in the movie. Of course, there's always a few minutes where everyone involved gets to pay homage to Diesel.

Visual Effects How Tos How about that for a clunky title? This section is composed of three short scenes broken down into their composite layers, with optional commentary by Joel Hynek of Digital Domain.

Trailer Gallery Three blockbuster trailers presented in 5.1 for "xXx", the next Martin Lawrence action film, "National Security", and Eddie Murphy in "I-Spy".

Additional Extra Features Also on the DVD is a Gavin Rossdale music video and cast and crew filmographies.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Region: 2
Chapters: 28
Ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: Multiple languages
Captions: English
Menus: Animated, with music
Special Features Subtitles: All of the special features come with subtitles apart from the trailer and the music video.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.