Spies in Disguise

I don’t expect much of movies, only that they be entertaining. Spies in Disguise meets that bar, had me laughing in quite a few places and I really appreciated the message of non-violence. Bonus points for explaining the cycle of violence that needs to be broken in this world that we live in.

Lance Sterling (Will Smith) is a charming jet setting super spy who seems to not be able to do anything wrong. Walter Beckett is a super brain who believes that the way that we deal with crime is wrong and wants to find a way of making the world better without the use of violence – he spends his time developing gadgets at the same agency that Sterling works at that are ingenious and will not hurt, harm or kill anyone. When super villain(tm) Killian (Ben Mendelsohn) implicates Sterling in his scheme, Sterling is forced to rely on Beckett to help save the world – and in a hilariously funny accident, Sterling is turned into a pigeon – and that is where the shenanigans begin.

Will Smith has been on a roll lately with his movies – this movie, Aladdin, Bad Boys for Life. I think it is because he has finally figured out that people really want to see charming Will Smith, not faux-actor Will Smith. Tom Holland had a thing for Venice in 2019 as he visits again in this movie (other film was Spider-Man: Far from Home). Both leads are great in the film and develop a decent chemistry together.

I’ve written before that Ben Mendelsohn needs to stop taking scripts where he plays a villain because he runs the risk of being typecast as one – which maybe he already has since the only roles I can recall from him are villain roles (Krennic in Rogue One, Sorrento from Ready Player One, Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood). The only non-villain role I remember him from is Talos from Captain Marvel/Spider-Man: Far from Home – though in Captain Marvel they played up his villainess for most of the film.

The music in the film was noticeably generic – although I really liked the use of Rob Base & D.J.E-Z Rock’s “It Takes Two” in one action sequence.

Spies in Disguise is an entertaining film, but somewhat generic in the story (outside of the pigeon thing). I enjoyed it throughout its running time.

Watched at home streamed on iTunes.