Knight and Day (PG-13 for sequences of action violence throughout, and brief strong language) Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz
In the new action spy thriller, Knight and Day, June Havens (Cameron Diaz) bumps into a stranger, Roy Miller (Tom Cruise), in the airport while en route to her sister’s wedding. Roy appears to be a superspy who has a secret that everybody wants, and both of them find themselves dodging nefarious assassins and Federal agents all across the globe.
Things start off with the strange and outrageous from the beginning of this film. A group of assassins have taken over an airplane to kill Roy, with June being the only civilian inside. An elaborate hand-to-knife combat scene ensues with Roy effortlessly killing all the bad guys (including the pilot who tried to shoot him) all the while June is in the restroom. Then, he calmly explains the situation to June as she comes out. Roy (who happens to know how to fly) winds up having to land the big plane in the middle of some field. It's established early on that this film isn’t meant to be taken too seriously. The action is still quite fun, however.
Upon looking at the trailer, one would think this film is mostly a romantic comedy with some action thrown in. Actually, it’s more like an action flick with some comedy thrown in and maybe a small dash of romance. I would say this could be considered a very close cousin to True Lies and a second cousin of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The humor and the outrageous action sequences borrow from our established understanding of spy action movie clichés. The action contains lots of stunts and has panache. For those familiar, I could also compare this film to a Japanese anime like Cowboy Bebop—it has that dry, dark, quirky humor to mix with the outrageous action—with slight nods to video games. Luckily, the tongue-in-cheek mayhem, lots of bullets, and stunt-filled, old-school action has more in common with True Lies than the silly CG-stuff of let's say, The A-Team. I could dig it.
Tom Cruise is in fine form as Roy Miller, who is essentially a movie superspy (or our idea of it), who is quicker, more clever, alert, and quirkier than everyone else. He can get away from any trap, and beats people up real nicely, real quickly. He’s not unlike Vincent, the amoral yet professional hitman, from Collateral, mixed with an exaggerated invincibility of Ethan Hunt from Mission:Impossible and a dash of Cary Grant-type one-liners. Tom Cruise is extremely dedicated and precise with the action performances, seemingly doing many of his own stunts. Cameron Diaz plays the “every-girl” quite well as June Havens, who is along for the ride. For her, this is like a Meg Ryan-type role. The role doesn’t really challenge her--she's likeable, but plays mostly the straight person reacting to Roy's antics, although she has her fair moments of bullet-dodging and jumping. The relationship between Roy and June is strangely disturbing if you think about it, which makes for good dark humor. There is some chemistry and the dialogue between them amidst all the flying bullets is unexpected and playful.
The plot isn’t anything too complex. There’s a scientific genius and some technology everybody wants (both of which Roy is hiding), with assassins everywhere. In planes, trains, automobiles, boats, and motorcycles, dodging bulls (in Spain) and bullets, one sees Roy and June escape these assassins all over the map with plenty of surrounding exotic scenery—Massachusetts, California, Jamaica, Austria, Spain, etc. It’s silly, but the film is also partly an homage to old-fashioned spy thrillers, like Hitchcock’s North By Northwest. The film doesn’t have a problem relying on our knowledge of action flicks to fill in many of the gaps.
Overall, I found this film to be a fun, escapist ride—and a well-done one. It's a fine summer flick. It doesn’t pretend to be anything else, it's more clever than normal, and it’s good at being...it. It pokes fun at itself and the genre without being too cheesy, as nothing here feels lazy--much effort has been put into the choreography and the look of the action scenes. It's nonstop and great to look at. Yes, it is light on romance. Tom Cruise’s Roy is funny in a wacky and creepy way because he performs the ridiculous with a straight face. The dialogue is charming. It's good, nutty fun. I give Knight & Day *** out of **** stars.
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