XXX: State of the Union (released as XXX2: The Next Level and XXX: State of Emergency outside North America) is a 2005 American action spy film directed by Lee Tamahori and a sequel to the 2002 film XXX. It is the second installment of the XXX film series, and was produced by Revolution Studios for Columbia Pictures. Vin Diesel and Rob Cohen, the lead actor and director of the original, had signed onto a sequel before the first film had opened, but both dropped out over scripting issues, while Cohen worked on Stealth. Cohen remained as an executive producer. Ice Cube took over the lead role as the new Triple X agent and Tamahori was brought in to direct, following the huge commercial success of the James Bond film Die Another Day, which he directed. Two different scripts were prepared for the film, and the one written by Simon Kinberg was selected; the other script featured a radically different plot. State of the Union was a box-office bomb and it was criticized by reviewers, mainly for the performances, an illogical story, and overuse of CGI-based visual effects for most of the action sequences. State of the Union is the last film in the XXX film series to be distributed by Columbia Pictures, as Paramount Pictures became the distributor for its future films, starting with XXX: Return of Xander Cage in 2017. Plot In Virginia, unknown assailants breach an underground NSA bunker run by Agent Augustus Gibbon who fends off the attackers before barely escaping with Toby Shavers. To find help from an XXX with more attitude, Gibbons meets Lieutenant Darius Stone, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, who is currently 9-years into his 20-year sentence in Leavenworth for disobeying orders and breaking the jaw of ex-four star General George Deckert, who is now the Secretary of Defence. The investigation into the attack on the bunker is led by NSA Agent Kyle Steele, who is informed that Xander Cage was apparently killed at the same time in Bora Bora. Gibbons helps to break Stone out of prison, who then sets himself up as their leader as he mistrusts Gibbons. Leading them to Washington, Stone meets Zeke, his old partner in crime, and Lola Jackson, his ex-girlfriend, who now runs an exotic car shop. Despite having moved on, Lola agrees to let Stone, Gibbons and Shavers hide in her shop in exchange for