Back in Action premieres on Netflix this week and that’s the perfect title for a movie with Cameron Diaz after a 10-year absence. That’s right movie fans, Cameron Diaz has is back and staring in a film with Jamie Foxx. Coincidentally her last movie was in 2014 with Jamie Foxx. But as great as it is to have Cameron Diaz back in film, I can’t say the same thing about this movie. It’s not a bad movie, but it’s not a great one either. To be frank, it’s one of those so-so movies that you usually find on Netflix and after you watch it you’re happy you didn’t pay to see I didn’t at the theater. Honestly I didn’t hate this movie, it is a lot of fun, but it suffers from an unoriginal plot and too close to movies like The Family Plan which came out on Apple + last year staring Mark Wahlberg and even True Lies which came out 30 years ago with Arnold Schwarzenegger. We’ve seen the story before of parents who were once Secret Agents and then somehow are called back into the life once their children are in danger. Like I said it’s not very original.
Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx both star as former special agents who became lovers and on one last mission, her character finds out she’s pregnant. So they decide to get together, abandon the spy life and start a new one. 15 years later they’re called Back into Action, hence the title. Something from their past brings them back into the game of espionage and this time they have to save their children while also revealing the truth of who they really are. Seem familiar? What this movie really has going for it is Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz have a lot of great chemistry together. They’re both fun to watch in this movie. Glenn Close is even good as the mother who is also a former secret agent so of course there’s a lot of unresolved family drama. The action is good. There’s a lot of laughs and Cameron Diaz is quite wonderful in the movie. She’s just as good as she always was in movies and that’s a big plus for this very average movie. But as great as it is to watch her kick butt and make you feel like you’re watching her version of Atomic Blonde, the story is too familiar and we’ve certainly seen this plot played out before. I know different production companies will basically tell the same story in their own way, sure, but when we already had a movie just like this come out on Apple + last year and then CBS tried to reboot True lies as a TV series… It’s just too familiar and not that entertaining. While I’m glad to have Cameron Diaz back in film, she should have picked a different project!
Overall it’s not an absolutely terrible film. I know… I’m not really selling you on watching this movie, but it’s a typical Netflix movie. They’re not going to be great or award-winning, at least most of them… At best they’re just fun movies and that’s okay because we do need those kinds of movies. Personally, I’m a big fan of very average movies on Netflix because Netflix is a great place to have those kinds of films that are never going to get noticed during award season, but are simply there to mindlessly entertain you. Netflix puts out a lot of good stuff and it also puts out a lot of bad stuff. I can’t say there’s very many movies that I’ve watched more than once on Netflix and I will probably never watch this movie again, but my recommendation to film fans is if you’re bored one night and you have a Netflix subscription, go ahead and check it out Because it is entertaining enough to watch while you’re chilling out after a long week at work and you’re not having to pay for an overpriced movie ticket… perhaps that’s the best selling point I can give on why you should watch this movie. I do love Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx together in a film. Like I said, they have great chemistry and at the end of the day, entertain you. Maybe that’s all we can really ask for. But unfortunately this movie is so predictable that’s not hard to guess how it’s going to end. So despite that, enjoy the action and the comedy and let’s welcome Cameron Diaz back to film after a 10 year absence because she’s a great actress and we deserve more of her wonderful performances. Now we’ll say there’s one thing that this movie certainly has going for it… it’s definitely better than a Charlie’s Angels film! Maybe that’s not saying much, but at least this film is better entertainment!
