xXx: The Return of Xander Cage Trailer (2017)

Trailer for xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, starring Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson and Toni Collette.

Xander Cage is left for dead after an incident, though he secretly returns to action for a new, tough assignment with his handler Augustus Gibbons.

Actioner, which features a high number of foreign actors, will be the domestic feature debut for Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone. Jet Li was also supposed to make an appearance, but he dropped out and was replaced with Donnie Yen for undisclosed reasons; we're thinking League of Gods. Considering that Donnie's career is at a high, we'd call it a pretty solid substitution.

The xXx franchise is the second of which that Vin Diesel decided to skip out on the second installment. The franchise went with Ice Cube as an alternate for the sequel, and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift had to go with Lucas Black, with Diesel only making an appearance during the film's ending sequence.

I've never been too much of a fan of the xXx films, as the franchise always bordered on the point of ridiculousness. But my opinion wasn't enough to prevent Paramount from trying again with this trailer for xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. Is it just as over the top as the previous installments? Well, that depends if you think smoothly skiing through a jungle -- only after jumping off a tower into the trees mind you -- sounds ridiculous or not. It does? Go figure.

That being said, the film does look like a ton of fun and is definitely taking advantage of a winning formula by mixing action, stunts, beautiful women, Diesel and of course Samuel L. Jackson. It's going to take another trailer, but I could be convinced to see The Return of Xander Cage in theaters when it arrives early next year.