Ice Cube takes over the lead role as Darius Stone, a former Navy SEAL serving a twenty-year sentence for breaking the jaw of a four-star general who later becomes Secretary of Defense. The setup is simple: Stone has the skills and the attitude to be the perfect new XXX agent, and he must stop a conspiracy led by General George Deckert. What follows is a film that mostly fails to live up to its own premise.
Trailer, via YouTube Movies.
Darius Stone Takes Over
Simon Kinberg’s script replaces the original actor with Ice Cube, who plays Darius Stone as a man of extreme sports and a criminal record. The trade makes sense on paper: a man with nothing left to lose should make a better agent than a clean-cut hero. In practice, the film never quite commits to the idea. Stone is reckless, sure, but he is also strangely cautious at key moments, and the movie never explains why the government would trust him with a national crisis.
The NSA Breach Opens the Story
The film opens with an assault on an underground NSA bunker. Agent Augustus Gibbons fends off the attackers and escapes with Toby Shavers. He calls on his old friend Darius Stone for help, and the two men break Stone out of prison. Stone mistrusts Gibbons from the start and sets himself up as leader of the group, which includes his old partner Zeke and his ex-girlfriend Lola Jackson.
The setup is promising. A former SEAL breaking out of prison to fight a conspiracy sounds like the start of a great action thriller. Instead, the film spends too much time on exposition and not enough on actual action, and the tension that should build from the opening attack never fully arrives.
Deckert’s Conspiracy Runs Deep
General George Deckert, played by Willem Dafoe, is the villain of the piece. As Secretary of Defense, he controls the military apparatus, and the film suggests he is behind the attack on the NSA bunker. His plan is to remove anyone who might expose him, and he targets Agent Augustus Gibbons directly.
The plot gets stranger as it goes on. Agent Kyle Steele investigates the attack, and the film introduces a dead body named Xander Cage, supposedly killed in Bora Bora. Stone goes to a party where he recognizes Deckert’s bodyguards as members of his old SEAL team. He overhears Deckert arguing with General Jack Pettibone VCJCS, and later realizes that Charlie Mayweather, a contact he trusted, is involved in the conspiracy.
None of this adds up to a coherent threat. The conspiracy is large, but the film never makes clear what Deckert stands to gain from it, or why he would risk everything to cover it up. The result is a plot that feels busy without feeling dangerous.
The Action Scenes Fail to Deliver
The film promises a “next level” of action, but the action scenes fall flat. Stone infiltrates the NSA bunker to recover a hard drive, and Gibbons returns to his house to recover evidence. Deckert and Sergeant Alabama “Bama” Cobb attack and apparently kill Gibbons, then bomb and burn the house to cover up the evidence. Later, Stone goes to Charlie’s safe house and is framed for murdering Pettibone.
None of these sequences land with the weight they should have. The fights are choreographed with style but lack intensity, and the stunts look dated even for a film from 2005. The film tries to build tension through spectacle, but the payoff never comes.
The Supporting Cast Carries More Weight Than the Plot
Samuel L. Jackson plays Augustus Gibbons, the veteran agent who recruits Stone. His scenes are the best in the film, and he brings a weary authority to the role that the script cannot fully support. Peter Strauss plays President James Sanford, and Scott Speedman plays Agent Kyle Steele, the NSA investigator who tracks the conspiracy.
Willem Dafoe plays General George Deckert with a quiet menace, but the film never gives him a chance to become a truly memorable villain. The supporting cast is strong, but the plot keeps pulling them back from moments that could have carried the film.
The Film’s Technical Flaws Are Hard to Ignore
The film’s technical problems are not small. The pacing drags in the middle, and the editing jumps between locations without giving the audience time to understand what is happening. The sound design is uneven, and some of the quieter scenes suffer from poor audio mixing.
These are not flaws that can be ignored. A film this ambitious needs a steady hand behind the camera, and Lee Tamahori’s direction does not deliver one.
A Sequel That Misses the Mark
This is the second film in the XXX series, and it is the last one distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film was made after Vin Diesel and Rob Cohen dropped out over scripting issues, and Tamahori was brought in to direct following the success of Die Another Day.
The result is a film that feels like a compromise between several different ideas. The script by Simon Kinberg was selected from two different drafts, and the final product shows it. The plot is fragmented, the tone is inconsistent, and the action never reaches the heights promised by the title.
The Verdict on State of the Union
State of the Union is a disappointment. It has a strong premise, a talented cast, and a director with a proven track record. None of that matters when the film cannot hold together as a story.
The film earns a score of 1.7 out of 10.
| Element | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Lead performance | Ice Cube brings energy | Plot does not commit to the character |
| Supporting cast | Strong ensemble | Underused by the script |
| Action sequences | Stylishly shot | Lack intensity |
| Direction | Solid experience | Uneven execution |
| Plot | Promising setup | Fragmented and confusing |
The film is worth seeing only for Samuel L. Jackson’s performance and the occasional well-choreographed stunt. Everything else falls short of what the title promises.
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