XXX2: THE NEXT LEVEL (UK) aka
XXX: STATE OF THE UNION (USA)
Year: 2005
USA & UK: Columbia Pictures
Cast: Ice Cube, Samuel L Jackson, Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman, Peter Strauss, Sunny Mabrey, Nona M Gaye, Xzibit, Rich Bryant, Mary Castro, John G Connolly, Brian David, Ramon De Ocampo, Matt Gerald, Thom Gossom Jr, Eli Harris, Bryan Holly, Charles Howerton, Kevin Jaskela, Chris J Johnson, Robert Alonzo, Steve Carson, Joseph DeBona, Henry Jäderlund, Brian Larsen, Danielle Lazarus, James Lewis, Sarah Mack, Tony Malanga, Robert Neal Marshall, Masuimi Max, Gwen Mihok, Christian Monzon, Scott Michael Morgan, J Patrick Pitts, Joe Robinson, Michael Roof, Rudi Rose, David Rountree, Jeanne Sakata, Ned Schmidtke, Barry Sigismondi, Thomas W Stewart, Schuster Vance
Director: Lee Tamahori
Country: USA
USA & UK: 101 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence and some language
UK Certificate: 12A contains moderate violence and one use of strong language
USA Release Date: 29 April 2005
UK Release Date: 29 April 2005
Synopsis
In Revolution Studios' bold new action thriller XXX2: THE NEXT LEVEL aka XXX: STATE OF THE UNION, a follow-up to the blockbuster franchise film of 2002, the winds of political change are rumbling through the halls of the Capitol as a popular President is being targeted for assassination by a radical splinter group of dissenters deep within the United States government.
Samuel L Jackson returns as Augustus Gibbons, the stalwart National Security Agency agent who guided operations in the original XXX. In this new franchise installment, Gibbons and gadget expert Toby Lee Shavers (Michael Roof), escape a deadly attack by unknown assailants on the NSA's XXX underground operations center.
Gibbons suspects the killers were sent by a radical, covert faction within the government and is looking for a new special agent to smoke them out. This time, Gibbons wants an experienced, well-trained military type with street credibility, who can discover the source of the insurgency from within.
Unfortunately, the perfect man for the job is in jail.
He is Darius Stone (Ice Cube) and is currently under lockup in a military prison for striking a superior officer. Gibbons aids in Stone's daring escape from prison and convinces him to become a new XXX agent to stop the overthrow of the U.S. government.
At the White House, the centrist President Sanford (Peter Strauss) butts heads with his radical Secretary of Defense, George Deckert (Willem Dafoe), a former general with past ties to both Gibbons and Stone. When Deckert attends a government gala, Stone impersonates a waiter in the hope of overhearing insider information. At the fete he meets Charlie Mayweather (Sunny Mabrey), the daughter of a Cabinet official who ultimately helps Stone escape.
Stone is also being pursued by FBI agent Kyle Steele (Scott Speedman), an ambitious up-and-comer who considers Stone a dangerous criminal. To aid him in his mission, Stone turns to two old friends from his days on the streets of Washington DC: Lola (Nona Gaye), a former flame who now owns a high-end car dealership, and Zeke (Xzibit), a renegade chop-shop operator with access to both weaponry and personnel.
When President Sanford is kidnapped after a brazen attack on the U.S. Capitol, Stone and his compatriots must unite to oppose one of the most formidable threats to American freedom ever mounted, led by an enemy with the ultimate in modern firepower and manpower at its disposal.