When writer-director Robert Rodriguez decided to make a new Spy Kids film, he went to exchange ideas with trusted collaborators: his children.
“They had a whole list of things: You must have a refuge. (…) And we have to bring back a video game element“, says Rodríguez.
Rodriguez took both notes for Netflix Child Spies: Armageddon, in which he integrates video games directly into the spy story. He did the same thing in 2003 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, which he remembers fondly as “the greatest of the Spy Kids films.” But it’s been 20 years since Game overmeaning it had to approach video games in a 2023 way.
It goes beyond the basics of the plot: this time, the video game infiltrates the real world before the children enter the game. And while Game overJuni Cortez’s secret agent had difficulty finding his way in the world of video games, Armageddon‘s new spies grew up in a world full of games and technology, so they know what they’re doing – better than adults.
Photo: Molly Scott/Netflix
“My son found a way to do it that made sense in today’s gaming world, where kids would be very savvy,” Rodriguez says. “It gives the film a realistic focus.”
And don’t think Rodriguez’s son, Racer Max, isn’t getting his due; contrary to Game overhe is a credited co-writer of the new film.
In Child Spies: Armageddon, a standard villain releases a code that turns every piece of technology into a video game level. Simple acts like unlocking a smartphone or withdrawing money from an ATM now involve game mechanics. This means that Tony and Patty, the film’s young video game-loving heroes, are perfectly prepared to help the adult secret agents .
“The children would be to be better than their parents, if that’s the only way to use technology,” says Rodriguez. “Parents would be lost, children would be like modern spies. And they would have a chance against the bad guy.
Another thing about today’s kids that would give them an advantage against an evil game developer?
“My kids know how each video game designer created their game,” Rodriguez says. “They trace the whole history of that person. So (Patty and Tony) would know this villain like the back of their hand, know how he thinks, and already know his game theory. So it was really fun to do that for this movie: it actually gave them a believable advantage against the bad guy.
Child Spies: Armageddon is currently streaming on Netflix.