‘Back in Action’ (2025) Netflix Movie Review - Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx in an Enjoyable Action Comedy

The title of Seth Gordon's new Netflix film, Back in Action, can be interpreted in two different ways. In terms of the plot, the movie is about two former CIA spies who find themselves "back in action" after their secret identities are revealed. In terms of acting, this is Cameron Diaz's return to the cinema field after 2014's Annie. Diaz said her goodbyes with that Will Gluck musical comedy that also had Jamie Foxx in it. Now, almost 11 years later, Diaz returns to the world of movies by starring alongside Foxx in this action comedy. She is "back in action" with this film. The action genre has become a comeback vehicle for celebrities. Shah Rukh Khan returned as an action hero with Pathaan, Jessica Alba restarted her acting career with Trigger Warning, and now Diaz is kicking and punching terrorists and mercenaries in this Seth Gordon film. I don't know about others, but I am tired of watching violence on the screen. There are just too many action movies in the theaters as well as on the OTT. If you are one of those critics who review Indian films, you would know why I am so exhausted by all the blood and gore and fights (there are just too many Pushpas and Marcos in this country).

However, I am happy to report that Back in Action never enervated me. Its pace is hectic  - something or the other always keeps on happening. There is no breathing room in the film, which means that the mother-daughter sentiments look disposable and dry. Still, Gordon knows how to sync his jokes with the momentum of his story. The humor keeps on coming - and landing. There is not a single dull moment in Back in Action, mainly due to Diaz and Foxx's sparkling chemistry. You chuckle at an old joke like the one where we are led into thinking that the characters are having sex only to realize that they are doing something else entirely because Diaz and Foxx (and Gordon, too) effectively sell it. As Matt and Emily, the two actors smoothly blend into the amusing world of this film with plenty of joy and energy. When Emily mentions that she misses the world of espionage and its thrills, you feel as if Diaz is confessing how much she missed the realm of acting. Well, she commits to her role with a lot of affection, excitement, and energy, and you enjoy watching her on the screen.

Gordon doesn't have an action director's gusto - the fight sequences here are unremarkable and uninteresting. But he is competent in covering up his flaws with relentless frenzy, and you admire how Matt makes a flamethrower in one scene, even though Gordon fails to do much with a moment like this (the flamethrower is simply swung around from one enemy to another enemy). Nothing in Back in Action should be taken seriously. Squint, you might notice all the actors winking. Glenn Close appears after a point and starts ruling the movie like a queen. As Emily's mother, Ginny, the character seems to be saying, "Age is just a number. Now pass me my sniper rifle, please." Andrew Scott's Baron pines for Emily and gives his lines shades of comic melancholy. The kids - McKenna Roberts and Rylan Jackson - are fine, and Jamie Demetriou, as Ginny's student/sex partner Nigel, is quite funny. The story, written by Gordon and Brendan O'Brien, is nothing but a collection of clichés complete with a MacGuffin, but you don't mind. As long as the jokes work, Back in Action works fine. Thankfully, they work pretty consistently.

Final Score- [7/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times