fbpx

BACK IN ACTION (2025)

"Family Matters Action Comedy"

What You Need To Know:

BACK IN ACTION, the latest Netflix espionage action comedy, follows the exciting adventures of Matt and Emily. CIA agents who are forced into early retirement, the couple settle down into "normal lives" with their two children. 15 years later, they're pulled back as spies when they blow their cover. They are faced with combating world terrorism again, this time with their children in tow. A typical action comedy, this one delivers action with a light-hearted exuberance that makes it a fun popcorn flick with many moments of excellent humor.

The movie's worldview is one of biblical moral themes of love, self-sacrifice, and the importance of family mixed with postmodern romanticism leanings such as troubling parenting practices. Two spies marry after starting a relationship while on assignment together. This would be problematic, except when she reveals her pregnancy to him, he immediately says he's "all in." This positive view of marriage, children and family remains strong throughout. For many action sequences, including occasional blood, fire, and death, brief language, and a few sexual references, MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong cautions for teenagers and adults.

Content:

(BB, RoRo, L, VV, S, A, MM): 

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
  Biblical moral themes of love, self-sacrifice, and the importance of family mixed with postmodern romanticism leanings such as troubling parenting practices;

Foul Language:
  One f word, 5 obscenities, and 3 light profanities,

Violence:
  An opening scene shows male and female undercover CIA agents grab a gadget and fight bad guys hand to hand (no blood); a man is shot in the head while flying a plane (no impact shown but blood splatters on the windshield); a plane crashes and shatters into different parts before exploding in the mountains while two people survive in a parachute; a man and woman beat up teenagers at a club to save their daughter; a man is shot in the neck with a sniper rifle (blood flies, and the man is shown on the ground afterward); terrorists attack a couple’s home, and a car chase ensues in which much property is damaged and several killed in 3 car crashes; a woman fights several swat officers with a kitchen chop knife and frying pans; two children are held at gunpoint and kidnapped; people are hurt in a motorcycle chase scene; people fight hand to hand on speed boats, some falling into the water, others knocked unconscious, while a boat with one person in it eventually hits an immovable object and explodes;

Sex:
  No explicit sex scenes, but an unmarried couple becomes pregnant and then chooses to get married; a married couple are boxing in their bedroom, and their children assume they are having sex; a few bouts of kissing (a few quite sensual) and some sexual banter; teenagers kiss in a couple scenes;

Nudity:
  No nudity;

Alcohol Use:
  A man says he will drink twice the champagne when he finds out his wife is pregnant because he’s “drinking for two”; a woman makes drinks and asks two children if they “drink gin”; a grandmother wants to teach teenagers how to drink;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
  None;

Miscellaneous Immorality:
  There is a pronounced worldview assumption by several characters that “all good parents lie to their kids”, a teenage girl lies to her parents and sneaks off to a club where there is a scene with teenagers partying.

More Detail:

Now available to stream, BACK IN ACTION, the latest Netflix foray into espionage action comedy, follows the exciting adventures of Matt and Emily. CIA agents who are forced into early retirement after the conclusion of their last mission, and the couple settle down into suburban “normal lives” with their two children. 15 years later, they’re pulled back into their past lives as spies when they blow their cover.  

They are now faced with combating world terrorism again, this time with their children in tow. It turns out that “the key,” the technological powerhouse item the couple was supposed to retrieve so many years ago, was retrieved and hidden away. Now, they set out to find it and end those seeking personal revenge and world domination. Yet, when the bad guys kidnap their children, the middle-aged married couple must do what it takes to get BACK IN ACTION. 

A typical action comedy, this one delivers “action” with a light-hearted exuberance, making it a fun popcorn flick with many moments of excellent humor. As to the going “back” part of the movie, it’s refreshing to see a story where a husband-and-wife duo work well together to defeat foreign and domestic enemies. While some action sequences, chases, and explosions are over the top in the way of such cinematic offerings, it’s all carried off with good direction, acting, and cinematography. 

Foxx and Diaz certainly have some winning chemistry as spies who become lovers and later spies who have become parents and must factor their children into their return to their old lives. It’s also interesting to see how the movie provides British actor Andrew Scott, of SHERLOCK Moriarty fame, with an interesting new character direction. While the movie could easily have been “just another spy comedy,” the family focus of the whole thing is encouraging. 

The movie’s worldview is one of biblical moral themes of love, self-sacrifice and the importance of family mixed with postmodern romanticism leanings such as troubling parenting practices. Two spies marry after starting a relationship while on assignment together. This would be problematic, except when she reveals her pregnancy to him, he immediately says he’s “all in.” This positive view of marriage, children and family remains strong throughout. 

Matt and Emily go on to have a second child, raise a family, and do their best to be good parents. This element displays postmodern parenting approaches, such as the postmodern American “teenage syndrome,” which is met with a parent saying, “All good parents lie to their kids.” There are also moments where parents seem annoyed by their relationships with their children, relationships they have assuredly helped to shape. 

 Overall, though, the family becomes one of synergistic effectiveness, demonstrating self-sacrificial love for each other and working together to achieve great things. It’s a refreshing take on an American culture that has, for many decades, done all it can to tear down the family, the basic unit of all true cultural development. For many action sequences, including occasional blood, fire, and death, brief language, and a few sexual references, MOVIEGUIDE® advises cautions for teens and adults.


Watch BACK IN ACTION (2025)
Quality: - Content: -2
Watch BACK IN ACTION (2025)
Quality: - Content: -2