Director Seth Gordon’s latest action-comedy venture, Back in Action, will either bore and frustrate viewers given how unapologetically generic and derivative it appears to be, or one might consider the movie to be a sly meta commentary poking fun at genre tropes and have a good ol’ time streaming it on Netflix. There is no in-between with this one. At times it seems like a deliberate choice on the part of the makers, who decide to draw upon so many classic spy movie traits, creating an intentional late 90s, early 00s action movie vibe with two of the biggest action stars of yesteryear in the lead. But the moment you realize the humor is centered on the very typical generational gap stuff, most of which doesn’t land anyway, you might start questioning the creative choices. Still, for what it’s worth, Back in Action is somewhat entertaining, despite all its shortcomings, something I can’t say about most of Netflix’s original action capers.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Did Matt And Emily Decide To Leave Their Spy Life Behind?
Emily and Matt, two ace spies working for QRN—the quick reaction nonofficial covert operative division of the CIA—are sent on an infiltration and extraction mission by their handler, Chuck. It’s not their first rodeo, and it is revealed that while being assigned on several missions together, the duo fell in love. At present, Emily is pregnant with Matt’s child. However, Emily doesn’t reveal the news of her pregnancy to Matt just yet, as the duo focuses on their current mission, infiltrating the mansion of former KGB, present Volka mafia chief, and terrorist Balthazar Gor, during his son’s birthday party, by going undercover as an arms broker couple invited to the event. The duo expertly maintain their cover while slyly obtaining a DNA sample from Gor to unlock his safe, from where they extract the ICS—Industrial Control System key, a veritable master key that can provide access to some of the world’s most important establishments—nuclear plants, dams, and so on and so forth. In the wrong hands, the key can be weaponized and cause disaster, which is why the CIA worked in coordination with MI6 to obtain it. Taking the ICS key, Matt and Emily prepare to leave for the States, and their extraction is arranged by their associate, MI6 Agent Baron Andrews, who seems to have a thing for Emily.
On the flight back to the CIA base, Emily reveals the news of her pregnancy to Matt, who, after dealing with his initial sense of surprise, promises her that he will be by her side and assures her that they will try to become good parents to their child. Emily had an estranged relationship with her mother, and Matt always craved a sense of belonging, as growing up, he didn’t have anyone to call his family. Which is why, despite knowing the risks of having a family in their line of work, they pledge to make it work anyway. However, the flight crew are revealed to be members of Gor’s Belarussian mafia, who launch an attack on the couple to obtain the key, resulting in the plane crashing—leaving no survivors except for Matt and Emily, who miraculously remain unscathed. The couple considers this to be a chance to start their life anew—now that the world considers them to be gone, and the ICS key has apparently been destroyed in the crash as well. As planned, Emily and Matt settle for a quiet life in the States.
Why Does Matt And Emily’s Family Move To England?
Fifteen years later, Matt and Emily are having a hard time handling parental duty to their children, Alice and Leo. Especially Emily, who had to cope up with the negligence of her mother during her younger days, is too overbearing when it comes to her kids, and being a growing teenager, Alice hates the fact that her mother doesn’t undestand the concept of privacy. Ironic enough, given that as spies, they used to breach privacy, and now they can not seem to let go of that habit even with their kids! Despite leaving the old life behind, Matt and Emily can’t seem to do a good job hiding their past from their kids—who rightly assume that their parents are keeping secrets about their past from them.
Anyway, on one occasion, Emily and Matt end up causing a scene at a nightclub where an underage Alice had sneaked in with her friends, and get into a scuffle with a group of irritable doofuses who were trying to harass Alice. The scuffle is recorded and goes viral online in no time, and the next thing they know, Chuck arrives at their doorstep in search of the ICS key. Chuck warns the couple to keep a low profile, as Balthazar and other interested parties might hunt them down in search of the key. Chuck also reveals that Baron Andrews had set them up back then, causing the plane crash in the first place, and he is working in cahoots with Balthazar Gor. Chuck’s warnings prove to be timely, though unfortunately not for him, as he is killed right at the doorstep after getting shot by a sniper, as a bunch of armed assailants begin shooting up the house—prompting Emily and Matt to go on the run.
Matt reveals that, contrary to Emily’s belief, the ICS key is intact, and he’d stashed it in England at Emily’s mother’s place in order to use it as leverage if they ever needed to do so in the future. Now that Balthazar and Baron are going after them, Matt plans to hand the key to the CIA in exchange for the security of his family. Emily agrees to the plan, even though she is disgruntled about having to meet her mother at all. Taking their kids, the duo flies off to England.
Was Chuck the Real Culprit?
Baron Andrews becomes aware of Matt and Emily’s arrival in England, and he assumes that they are trying to sell the ICS key, which prompts him to lead a squad of MI6 operatives to find them. The kids become restless given how suspicious their parents are acting all of a sudden, which increases after Matt forbids them from using their phones or accessing the internet at all. Before reaching their destination, Matt makes a pit stop, when Leo and Alice learn that their parents have hidden the true identity of their family members while making this sudden trip. Leo ends up searching for the forged identities online, which results in Balthazar’s men being able to locate them, prompting Matt and Emily to knock them out following a violent beatdown. As they resume their journey, the couple finally confess their past identities to their children, much to their amazement.
The kids get doubly shocked after reaching their grandmother’s place, the stately Foxhound Manor, as it is revealed that Emily’s mother, Ginny Carter, was a former MI6 legend, and the reason for her estranged relationship with Emily becomes crystal clear. While serving her nation with honor, Ginny remained neglectful of her responsibilities as a mother, resulting in a rift between Emily and her that only widened as years passed by. The duo gets into an argument as both get busy nitpicking how they have failed as parents. Alice overhears their conversation and is able to sympathize with her mother. Later on, Ginny shares her regret of not being able to be a better mother to Emily. On the other hand, Leo gets busy practicing spy skills with Ginny’s boyfriend, a goofy MI6 aspirant named Nigel. Matt takes Emily to the secret location where he had stashed the ICS key and left a heartfelt note for her in case things had gone awry.
A special ops team, led by none other than Chuck, infiltrate Foxhound Manor, and hold rest of the family captive while Matt and Emily are away. Turns out, Chuck had lost his job as a CIA handler after the ICS key went missing; Matt and Emily were presumed to have met their end following the crash—and his life was turned upside down. After all these years, when Matt and Emily’s video at the nightclub goes viral, Chuck plans to get revenge for how their decision of moving on from their past has affected his life in the worst way possible. Chuck fakes his death while meeting with them, and by painting Baron as the villain—who in reality was tailing Balthazar and considered the spy couple to be in cahoots with the terrorist—ensured that they don’t get to involve MI6 into this. It isn’t explained as to how Chuck simply assumed that Matt might have kept the ICS key hidden somewhere, and it didn’t get destroyed in the crash. Chuck forces Matt to hand him over the ICS key and plans to sell it in a private auction. To ensure that Matt and his family don’t interrupt his plan, Chuck takes Alice and Leo captive and escapes from Foxhound Manor with his team.
Are Matt and Emily Able to Save Their Kids?
The spy couple is able to locate Chuck’s private auction by tracking the GPS signal of Leo’s fitness tracker thumb ring, where the former CIA handler was showing a demonstration of the capabilities of the ICS key. To show the full potential of the master key, Chuck orders his lackey, Daphne, who was operating the key, to open the Thames barrier. Matt and Lisa arrive at the location, and a prolonged chase ensues as Chuck tries to flee through the waterfront, taking the kids with him as leverage. Baron and MI6 get entangled in this mess as well, and soon enough, Balthazar’s crew join the party. However, Ginny uses her sniper skills to hold off Balthazar’s crew, providing Matt and Emily a chance to continue their pursuit.
On the other hand, Nigel, of all people, manages to incapacitate Daphne and take charge of the ICS key control. Seeing Chuck riding his speedboat to escape to the open ocean by passing through the still-open Thames Barrier, the spy couple realizes they need to stop him before he goes out of bounds, or else they won’t be able to save their kids. Nigel is instructed to use the key to close the barrier, a task that tests his IQ and patience considerably, while Matt and Emily are able to take down all of Chuck’s goons aboard the speedboat and throw their kids to the safety of open water (?). Leaving Chuck inside the speeding boat, Matt and Emily jump out of it, and just at the right time, Nigel is able to close the barrier, resulting in the boat colliding into it and getting destroyed in a fiery explosion. Chuck is presumably dead, and the ICS key is probably destroyed as well.
Following the chaotic series of events, Emily appears to have reconciled with Ginny, who has arrived with the family to the States to spend some quality time with them, and Alice too has made amends with her mother, realizing that she only wanted to be present for her daughter, in her own eccentric way, that is. However, they are far from being out of danger as Baron meets up with Matt and Emily to inform them that Chuck’s body was not found following the explosion, implying he might still be alive, and there is a possibility that he still holds the ICS key. This time around, Baron wants Emily to convince her father to join the mission, which surprises Matt as he never heard Emily mention about him previously. This sounds like a whole other drama that can be explored in a sequel movie, but to have that, this one needs to click well with the audience first. And I am not too sure whether that is going to be the case after all is said and done.