XXX (Superbit Collection) (2002)

 


á      Starring: Vin Diesel, Asia Argento, Marton Csokas, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Roof

á      Directed by: Rob Cohen

á      Studio: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment

á      Video: 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen

á      Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS 5.1

á      Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai

á      Extras: Scene selection

á      Length: 124 minutes

á      Rating: ****

 

When his thrill-seeking ventures land him on the wrong side of the law, Xander Cage is given the opportunity to avoid jail time by working as an undercover spy for the NSA.  Operating under the code name of XXX, Cage is sent to retrieve information on a Russian crime ring known only as Anarchy 99.  Cage falls for a beautiful woman within the crime ring and wants to save her from its ruthless members, not the least of which is the leader Yorgi.  When his cover is blown though, Cage must single-handedly risk his life to save her and stop Anarchy 99Õs sinister plans.             

 

The video quality of this DVD is excellent and noticeably better than the previous standard release.  Images are sharper and sport finer detail.  Blacks remain consistently dark.  Colors are warm and rich with fully saturated hues.  Picture defect mastering is perfect with no major flaws or digital compression artifacts.  The overall audio quality is also excellent with the English DTS 5.1 track serving as the basis for this review.  The soundtrack mix actively utilizes all of the discrete channels with clean separation among them.  Dialogue is crisp and firmly anchored in the center channel.  The surround channels are aggressive employed, used for both music and ambient sounds, and include multiple split rear effects.  The low frequency bass is explosive and has a little more punch than the Dolby Digital 5.1 track.  Present in about three-quarters of the DVDÕs chapters, tactile effects appear in the form of light to heavy impacts and they originate from both the sound effects and music score.

 

Reference equipment used for this review: [Video projector- Studio Experience Cinema 17SF Projection screen- Da-Lite 106Ó Da-Snap; DVD player- Pioneer Elite DV-37; A/V Receiver- Sherwood Newcastle R-963T; Speakers- BIC DV62si mains, DV62CLRs center, Adatto DV52si rears, D1210R subwoofer; Tactile Transducers- Clark Synthesis Gold; Video Switcher- Key Digital SW4x1; Cables and Wires- Bettercables.com]