Back in Action – A Middling Action Comedy (Early Review)

Back in Action, most notably, marks the acting return of Cameron Diaz, appearing in her first feature film role in over 10 years, following 2014’s Annie. Here, she stars alongside Jamie Foxx, reuniting with Diaz for whom she starred with in Annie. The story follows Emily (Diaz) and Matt (Foxx), a pair of CIA agents and lovers who fake their deaths and now live a suburban life with their two children, Alice (McKenna Roberts) and Leo (Rylan Jackson). Fifteen years later, Emily and Matt are pulled back into the world of espionage as they are forced to go on the run with their kids once their cover is blown. While not anything to write home about and rather middling as a whole, it does offer some decent, run-of-the-mill entertainment that ultimately has all the makings for a harmless enough viewing experience.

In the end, the main reason to check this out at all is to see Diaz’s return to acting as it is an absolute delight seeing her onscreen again, especially for audiences who happen to be fans of hers. It is clear that she has not missed a beat as Emily, still kicking ass and handling herself admirably over the film’s comedic moments. On the other side, Foxx, as Matt, is a lot of fun to watch too, and his great chemistry with Diaz creates such a believable married couple dynamic almost instantly. Roberts and Jackson are solid as Alice and Leo, rounding out the family dynamic. One of the stronger elements of the film, that dynamic also injects it with a nice heart. Though far from the best action sequences, they are still enjoyable to watch with their smaller scale, leaning on practical effects. That being said, they sometimes get too bombastic and digital for their own good the further the film progresses. However, as a whole, it is something that is easy to throw on and get through, and runs along at a nice pace.

As watchable as Back in Action may be, there’s just no getting around the fact that it is a middle-of-the-road film that fails to leave much of an impression on those watching it. Not to mention, the story is incredibly generic and derivative, playing out like the same kind of action comedy audiences have seen countless times before. Every single twist can essentially be seen coming from a mile away while the overarching spy plot is just so boring. These circumstances could have been as a result of the unfortunate medical emergency that happened on set with Jamie Foxx while shooting the film back in 2013 and the subsequent completion of the film while he recovered, but there are also some strange editing choices here, including some quick jump cuts that become increasingly noticeable over time.

Back in Action is a story of two halves as its stronger first half is followed by a devolving second half that turns away from its family component in favor of an utterly average spy thriller leaning a bit too far into its comedic side. Meanwhile, the supporting cast is not completely wasted but when it features a stacked cast featuring the likes of Close (Ginny), Andrew Scott (Baron), and Kyle Chandler (Chuck), they should be afforded better-written roles that give them a lot more to do than what they did here.

At the end of the day, Back in Action is a decent action comedy. Overall, it is great to see Cameron Diaz quite literally back in action and while her return is decently entertaining enough, it is a shame that it is nothing more than just that. In what feels like a throwback to the great action comedies of the mid 2000’s, it is both a positive and a bit of a negative depending on how audiences feel about the films of that era. While it is a film that should have been better than it was, considering the talent involved in front of the camera, it also could have been a lot worse, based on the lack of support it was given thanks to its January release date and lack of marketing.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/