Back in Action Review: A Family of Espionage

Dive into the world of espionage and family with Netflix’s newest film, Back in Action. Starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz, the two appear as former CIA agents. Fifteen years prior, Matt (Foxx) and Emily (Diaz) vanished from the CIA to start a family away from the perils of their job. Now, with two children and a seemingly perfect life, the two are thrust back into espionage when their cover is blown. As Matt and Emily try to protect their family, they must also search for a crucial piece of technology that could impact the world if in the wrong hands.

Check out our Back in Action review below and remember spoilers ahead!

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Back in Action Review – Breaking Down Plot, Setting, Characters

Plot

The film starts at a child’s birthday party, as Matt and Emily must grab the Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Key from a Polish KGB terrorist, Balthazar Gor. Successful, the pair head out on a plane but are quickly overtaken by Gor’s men, who have infiltrated the staff. Fighting for their lives, the two end up alone in the mountains away from the destroyed plane, deciding to leave the CIA and grow a family since Emily is pregnant.

Fifteen years pass in suburbia, with Matt and Emily becoming a semi-normal couple who coach soccer and make custom puzzles. Their past comes back with a vengeance when a video of Matt and Emily goes viral, and their old friend Chuck comes to check in on them, unfortunately getting shot and killed by Gor’s men. Matt and Emily must travel with their kids to England and retrieve the Key Matt hid fifteen years ago on Emily’s estranged mother’s estate.

After a tense meeting, the bad guys arrive, instead being led by Chuck, who lost everything after Matt and Emily disappeared with the Key. Chuck takes the children as collateral and the Key, heading to London to show potential buyers the power of the device. With the M16 and Gor closing in, Matt and Emily must retrieve the Key, save their kids, and take Chuck down with the help of grandmother Ginny.

For the most part, I thought the plot was easy to follow and was full of action and comedic scenes. There were a few plot holes, though, which impeded parts of the film. For instance, we get no timing from when Matt and Emily leave the CIA to how they made a family home, who Emily’s father was (mentioned at the end of the film), the past between M16 agent Baron and Emily, or who helped Emily and Matt disappear. Since a second film was hinted at, they could patch up these plot holes for the next installment.

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Setting

Back in Action has a range of settings from the United States to England and even a plane flying over Europe. The film starts in Europe through a covert operation between Emily and Matt and quickly switches to a plane bringing the CIA agents home. Along the way, the two must jump out to save themselves and later make their way to the United States to raise a family away from the CIA.

The world of suburbia lasts for fifteen years before an unfortunate video blows Matt and Emily’s cover, requiring them to return to England to Emily’s mother’s estate to retrieve a precious item from their past. From boat chases to museums, we get a broad glimpse of the city before the movies end.

The setting, and more specifically, the changing of the setting throughout, was a positive for the film. It allowed the spy genre to shine through and gave viewers new information to process as the CIA agents were on the run. It would have been interesting to see something directly attached to the CIA, whether it was a safe house, office building, etc., rather than just a hangar with a plane.

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Characters

The main four characters we see throughout the film are the family unit of Matt, Emily, Alice, and Leo. Matt and Emily must try to hide their CIA past from their children Alice and Leo, but it quickly falls to the wayside when they get put in danger. Along for the ride is Emily’s estranged mother, Ginny, scorned lover and M16 agent Baron, and harmless “boy toy” Nigel.

Against the family unit are two groups: Chuck and his crew of wayward men and mob leader Balthazar Gor and his group of minions. Both are searching for a drive that can unlock and manipulate major power networks across the world and are constantly nipping at the CIA agent’s heels.

Overall, I think the characters had a range of personalities and worked well with each other. I especially liked the throughline of mother versus daughter and how not only Alice and Emily got to repair their relationship but Emily and Ginny, too. I would have liked to see a little more of the “spy” dynamic for the kids, like when Leo showed his thumb ring to track their location. It would have driven home this idea that the spy gene runs in the family and could show their prowess of being spies in the future.

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Where is Back in Action streaming?

Back in Action is streaming on Netflix, premiering on the service on January 17, 2025. The film is under two hours long and labeled as action/comedy.

Prominent Actors in Back in Action

Along with Diaz’s long-awaited reappearance, several other heavy hitters are in the cast of Back in Action. From comedian and actor Jamie Foxx to the legendary Glenn Close, check out some of the leading actors and actresses in the film and other pieces they have appeared in.

• Cameron Diaz (Emily) – The Mask, Charlie’s Angels, The Other Woman
• Jamie Foxx (Matt) – The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Django Unchained, Day Shift
• Glenn Close (Ginny) – Fatal Attraction, 101 Dalmatians, The Wife
• Andrew Scott (Baron) – All of Us Strangers, 1917, Spectre
• Kyle Chandler (Chuck) – Manchester by the Sea, Game Night, The Wolf of Wall Street

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Final Thoughts

All in all, this was a fun film to spend two hours viewing. While there were some plot holes, the storyline was easy to follow and full of action and comedy, just as promised. I think the family dynamics really worked well, especially between the mothers and daughters from two generations. This could be explored more in a future film and even introduce the dynamic between Emily’s father and her. The setting was expansive, allowing the movie to breathe, and I think it could be a suitable film series if Netflix decided to pursue a new installment.