Back in Action’s promising first act is wasted by yet another boring group of villains set on world domination.

Directed by Seth Gordon, the Netflix action-comedy is headlined by a returning Cameron Diaz, who has not appeared in a movie since 2014. She plays one half of a spy couple, with the always reliable Jamie Foxx in the other role.

After a big mission goes awry, the duo decide to disappear and retire to a life of domestic bliss, raising kids in suburbia with no hints of their exploits in espionage. Of course their quiet life is soon upended when people from their past force them back into action across the pond in the UK.

At this point one might expect an updated version of Spy Kids or perhaps the manic comedic tone of Mr and Mrs Smith. But instead the movie goes off the rails completely.

Casting American actress Glenn Close as a British matriarch should have been the first warning sign, given her fake-posh accent lasts all of five minutes. Then, as many of these middling action movies tend to do, Back in Action becomes a chase for a mysterious object that could take over the world in the wrong hands.

The last hour – and there are two hours of this movie for no reason – wastes Diaz’s return and some decent on-screen chemistry with Foxx. They are both well-suited to the light action scenes and give some of the below-average jokes an admirable effort. It is unfortunately not enough to lift this movie above ‘just fine’.

Back in Action will surely soon be resigned to a life of obscurity in the Netflix back catalogue alongside similar titles like The Man from Toronto and Murder Mystery 2.

Rated PG13 for scenes of Violence and Language.

2.5/5.

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