Back in Action

A couple are convinced to come out of retirement, after their new life and cover is blown.

It's teetering on being one of those movies that's so bad, it happens to be fun. It's nonsense, sheer, total and utter nonsense, but I watched it from start to finish, and didn't get bored.

Everything was over the top, the fact that the couple didn't age at all after fifteen years, the shoot out scenes, the annoying children.

There was a hint of Johnny English about it, nonsensical sci fi, gadgets and gizmos, ridiculous shoot em up scenes, it did make me laugh a couple of times, the stereotypes were pretty funny.

You go for two wonderfully over the top English characters, and neither are English, that made me laugh, and think of Murder, she wrote, Glenn Close and Andrew Scott doing wonderfully, plummy English accents.

I rather liked Nigel, a bumbling British agent, who could have been lifted out of a spoof from the early 2000's, Jamie Demetriou was amusing.

One issue though, Americans poking fun at British food.....hand me the sugar, colourings and trans fats.

Fun, nonsense.

6/10.

Once again, we are faced with a simple movie from a streaming service that features well-known actors. While it may lack original ideas and intricate plot details, the film surprisingly achieves what it sets out to do: entertain the audience.

One of the strengths of this film lies in its abundance of amusing characters and the jokes they deliver. These elements are not only sufficient but often exceed what is necessary to ensure a pleasurable viewing experience. It's important to approach such films with the right mindset-one of lowered expectations. When you don't anticipate groundbreaking storytelling or innovative concepts, the film manages to pleasantly surprise you and leave you with a sense of enjoyment and positive emotion.

So, if you're in the mood for a film that doesn't demand much of your attention but still brings a smile to your face, this might just be the right choice.

15 years after leaving behind their careers as superspies by faking their deaths, Emily (Cameron Diaz) and Matt (Jamie Foxx) have started a family and now live a quiet suburban life with their teenage daughter Alice (McKenna Roberts) and young son Leo (Rylan Jackson) while dealing with parental challenges like teenage rebellion and screentime. After following their daughter to a late night rendezvous at a night club where they use their martial arts training against some aggressive young men, the two are visited by their former handler Chuck (Kyle Chandler) who warns them the video of their fight has gone viral and that both the CIA and arms dealer Gor (Robert Besta) will likely track them down in the hopes of acquiring the ICS, a digital weapon that Matt hid unbeknownst to Emily if in case they ever needed leverage and to keep it from falling in the wrong hands. After Chuck is killed the two flee with their children while dodging assassins and mercenaries as they head to England where the ICS is hidden with Emily's estranged mother Ginny (Glenn Close).

Back in Action is the latest star studded genre film from Netflix and comes to us from writers Seth Gordon and Brendan O'Brien the former of whom also directs. The film marks Foxx's fourth collaboration with the streamer following works like Project Power, Day Shift and they very enjoyable They Cloned Tyrone and also marks the first role for Cameron Diaz since 2014's Annie after the actress took a hiatus due to the travel demands of acting. Back in Action doesn't break any new ground when it comes to this kind of high concept action-comedy film, but despite being pure formula it is elevated by the strong chemistry and comedic timing of Foxx and Diaz.

Back in Action follows a similar framework you've seen with this type of format which can be traced back to things like True Lies from the 90s or Romancing the Stone and its various immitators of the 80s (like American Dreamer for instance). This kind of format has been used time and time again (This Means War, Killers, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Ghosted, etc.) and if you're familiar with the formula it's very much in play here. The opening sequence involving Emily and Matt infiltrating Gor's mansion to obtain the ICS is actually quite well done and features some good choreography even if the plane crash sequence maybe is a tad overdone. It helps that Diaz and Foxx do have really good chemistry with each other and it's a marked improvement from last year's Argylle that had terrible chemistry between its leads and an overly bloated runtime. The first act after the opening sequence is probably the weakest part of the film with some very on the nose "generation gap" humor with Alice and Leo two-dimensional Gen Z and Gen Alpha archetypes whose position is really only to react to the reveal of their parents superspy past without really being fully fleshed characters themselves and it's the kind of thing that feels very "sitcom" in its usage of awkward humor. Once the family is forced on the run it adheres pretty closely to the patterns of this kind of formula action comedy but there are some amusing moments especially with Glenn Close as Emily's mother and some good against type stunt casting where the prior roles associated with two actors help make a pretty obvious twist have more weight than you'd expect.

Back in Action is not a great movie but it's a decent rental especially when you consider prior spy films from last year like Canary Black and Argylle that didn't work at all. If this were a theatrical film, I'd say it's something you can rent and be reasonably entertained. Take that for what you will.

If you don't like super exaggerated action scenes just skip this one as that is exactly what you will get. I wouldn't say it's my favourite genre either but sometimes it passes if it's well made. And it is well made, with nicely choreographed fighting scenes, plenty of action scenes and decent acting. Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx work well together. Maybe it could have used more humour, that part was just average, but in the popcorn movie genre it works. Spies that can take out everybody, solve all the problems as it was the easiest thing to do, that you can only see in these kind of movies. In real life they both would be dead and buried.

It's the kind of movie that not everyone will like, but deep down it hides a simple, repetitive, but efficient entertainment that's good enough to spend a weekend watching the return of Cameron Diaz and her still-lively chemistry with Jamie Foxx.

Netflix delivers its first big blockbuster of the year and does so by bringing back the chemistry of Foxx and Diaz on screen with an everyday action comedy that will not propose anything new to the universe, but will leave an entertaining pastime for those looking for simple things without major complexes, sometimes the cinema also needs moments of relaxation like these.

Under the direction of a director who is a regular in the genre like Seth Gordon, we are faced with a film that delivers well-done scenes and sequences and at the same time lacks depth in its characters, not to mention memorable dialogues, but a couple of well-done gags that balance the on-screen adventure in a simple, repetitive blockbuster full of clichés, but that entertains, which is what it ultimately seeks in its mission.

Seeing Cameron Diaz again after so much time on screen is the big punch that this new Netflix release has, despite not having the best tools, the actress once again demonstrates her charisma on screen and her perfect chemistry with an also returning Jamie Foxx after his health problems. Back in action for a duo that is always a delight to see on screen, and although they do not have a wonderful script in their favour, they do provide moments where they make us happy and entertain us just as their supporting actors do, who in some way contributes to a good pastime.

It has all the circumstances to be the new big Netflix franchise, and it has a couple of arguments to give us something more. Clearly, it is not one of those movies that will mark great milestones, but it does manage to be the first big blockbuster of 2025 even if it does not leave everyone happy. It is a Netflix-style movie that is good for a family weekend, at the service of the charisma of a duo that is back to make us spend pleasant moments on screen.

Almost 11 years without Cameron Diaz on screen was too much, seeing her again is a real pleasure. Thank you, Netflix, for that, welcome back home my dear Cameron Diaz.