"Family Matters Action Comedy"

None | Light | Moderate | Heavy | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Language | ||||
Violence | ||||
Sex | ||||
Nudity |
What You Need To Know:
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:
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.