Pitch Black / XXX / The Fast And The Furious (DVD)

Pitch Black (Dir. David N. Twohy, 2000): It's evil vs. evil in an electrifying showdown that USA Today calls "the best excuse to root for the bad guy since Arnold in the original Terminator."

The daylight can burn you, but the darkness will kill you. From the mind of the writer of The Fugitive comes the pulse-pounding sci-fi thriller, Pitch Black. Experience the psychological terror when a group of marooned passengers must face a pack of terrifying creatures whose only weakness is the light. With little power and dwindling numbers, the doomed passengers turn to a vicious convict (Vin Diesel) with an appetite for destruction and eerie eyes that can guide them through the darkness.

XXX (Triple X) (Dir. Rob Cohen, 2002): This amped action drama stars Vin Diesel as Xander (aka Triple X), a rebellious extreme sports star with a mission to defy authority and create anarchy. In the dramatic opening scene of the movie, Xander pulls an outrageous series of stunts with the help of a band of similar-minded jocks, broadcasts the whole event live onto the Internet with a network of strategically placed digital cameras, and then avoids being captured by the squadron of police who pursue him. When Triple X is later taken into custody, Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson), a representative from a government agency, hires the chiseled athlete and turns him into a secret agent with a mission to travel to Prague and collapse a dangerous terrorist cell operated by Yorgi (Martin Csokas) and the seductive Yelena (Asia Argento).

Triple X is quickly drawn into Yorgi's lair, a stunning chateau situated in the mountains that is equipped with every high-tech modern amenity imaginable, along with a sizeable team of extra-large Slav bodyguards, a laboratory staffed by top scientists, and an always-ready gaggle of gorgeous concubines.

Non-stop stunts, pounding hard-core music, elaborate sets, and inventive costumes make this Rob Cohen-directed adrenaline overload a visually exciting, aurally engaging, highly entertaining success.

The Fast & The Furious (Dir. Rob Cohen, 2001): A nitro-burning joyride that makes outstanding use of special effects, innovative camera work, and a nonstop throbbing soundtrack.

From the opening sequence the film never drops below the red line. Roaring along at breakneck speed, Dom (Vin Diesel) and his crew meet on the streets of L.A. each night to show off their high-powered racers. When new guy Brian (Paul Walker) wants to add his fuel to the fire, he can't getup the money to race, but offers up his car as collateral. In their tiny jacked compacts, Dom, Brian, and Edwin (Ja Rule) burst into a high-gear race with Brian nearly beating perennial champion Dom.

But in the final moments, he loses the race and his car.

Brian's debt is quickly cleared, however, when he saves Dom both from the cops and from a potentially violent encounter with Johnny Tran (Rick Yune), a rival gang lord. Dom takes Brian under his wing--a decision that disgusts his gang but delights his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster).