SPY KIDS: ARMAGEDDON - Mark Reviews Movies

Spy Kids: Armageddon, Netflix

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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 22, 2023

After more than a decade-long hiatus, co-writer/director/cinematographer/editor/co-composer Robert Rodriguez has brought back the idea of kid spies with Spy Kids: Armageddon. It's just too bad the lengthy pause didn't result in the fun of the series' first two installments.

This reboot does at least have some fun with its central concept, even if it is something of a familiar riff on the third entry of this franchise. The story here is all about kids' relationship with and humanity's increasing reliance on technology, as the developer of the world's most popular video game uses his most recent creation to force people to play a video game in order to access any device. Since just about everything can be "smart" and connected to the internet, that means adults, who don't keep up with all of the games their kids are playing, are locked out of their homes, cars, and bank accounts.

Somehow, this is supposed to make people better in their everyday lives, although the villain isn't exactly clear as to how this act of global hacking or even his line of thinking would do such a thing. Forget that, apparently, because Rodriguez and Racer Max's screenplay really only cares about putting two young siblings and their spy parents into a series of adventures, action sequences, and opportunities for stealth and gadget-use.

We know the drill by this point, and apart from some enjoyable performances and a couple of smart messages about what it means to be a decent person, this new start for the series doesn't live up to the franchise's high points. It is a bit better than its low ones, though.

The new family of spies or soon-to-be spies are the quartet of brother and sister Tony (Connor Esterson) and Patty (Everly Carganilla), as well as their parents Terrence (Zachary Levi) and Nora (Gina Rodriguez). Mom and dad are long-time spies, but they still haven't told their kids this information.

Nora really wants to, but Terrence is paranoid about what it could mean and the possibility of their identities being uncovered. That means limiting the kids' tech-time and locking up all of their devices whenever they're not supposed to be using them. Rebellious Tony won't stand for that, and after winning a free copy of the sequel to his favorite video game, he and Patty sneak into the family game room late at night to start playing.

This sets in motion a lot of chases, some hiding, plenty of fights with assorted goons, and a race against the clock to stop the bad guy from taking control of every piece of technology on the planet. Our villain is Rey "the King" Kingston (Billy Magnussen), a game developer who figures out the parents' job, determines that Terrence has created a program called the Armageddon Code that can hack into anything, and uses Tony's secret game-time to steal half the code from the parents' spy computer. When he realizes his plan is incomplete, Kingston abducts the Terrence and Nora, leaving the kids to fend for themselves in a high-tech safe house, train to become spies, and come up with a plan to rescue their parents.

On the positive side, the child actors portray a sense of fun that might overshadow the worlds—both that of spies and of the gamer's paradise Kingston has made of his secret fortress—and action envisioned by Rodriguez. Levi, as an equally strict and goofy father, and Rodriguez, as the tough but caring mother, neither feel out of place nor dumb down their performances for the kids on screen or in the audience. There's a pleasant feeling of authenticity to this family—albeit with some embellishments, since it is going more for comedy than sincerity.

The main issue is that Rodriguez doesn't seem too interested in doing anything different or new with this installment, either in terms of its predecessors or when it comes to any given comedic action movie. The main hook, perhaps, is how much of this story revolves around video games, with Kingston's henchmen being characters from his creation (They're either guys dressed up as them or the real deal brought into reality, but it's not as if the filmmakers care about the rules of this world or that any rules would really matter in the first place).

That's taken to another couple levels during the third act, as the kids infiltrate the villain's fortress, which shifts to accommodate the occupants and to create assorted perils, and the foursome go inside the video for a string of final challenges. The visual effects, which only look a bit updated from even the first film, get the job done—if said job is look like a cheap and cheesy video game, which very well might be the intention, all things considered.

The result is, though, a bunch of generic action. Despite the seemingly endless possibilities of high-tech spy tools, it comes across as limited, until the third act, when Spy Kids Armageddon wants to give us a lesson on the importance of non-violence. After everything that comes before—as in, immediately up to that message being acted upon—it, that seems more than a bit hypocritical.

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