Cast: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz
Director: James Mangold
Knight and Day, directed by James Mangold and starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz has all the elements of an enjoyable romantic thriller -- a sexy lead pair, a string of high-octane action scenes, and gorgeous international locations. Yet the film leaves you hungry for more.
Cruise plays super-slick CIA agent Roy Miller, whose bosses no longer trust him. He's got a precious device they want -- a thumb-sized battery that can power a small city, and he's hidden the wiz-kid who invented it. Diaz plays regular gal June Havens who bumps into Miller at an airport, and before she knows it finds herself flying all over the world with him trying to escape not one but two sets of adversaries desperate to get their hands on that coveted battery.
Cruise and Diaz are charming actors both, but the script of this film doesn't have enough of the breezy wit that was required to turn this film into an engaging adventure movie like Romancing The Stone. There's a genuine comic pulse between the leads, but no sexual chemistry at all, making it hard to understand why her character would be willing to go along with him on this dangerous, whirlwind journey.
The lack of romantic energy, however, is made up for by a set of nifty stunts, including a thrilling car-chase sequence in which Cruise mostly leaps across the top of many cars, and dangles precariously off the roof of one. In another exciting set-piece Cruise and Diaz escape through a stampede at a Spanish bullfight, and there's also a breathless confrontation in the pantry of a speeding train.
Of course we're not meant to take the plot of this film seriously, but Knight and Day doesn't even have enough flair to make this ridiculous premise fun. Just consider that early sequence in an airplane that Cruise must take charge of, after every other passenger including the pilot has been killed. There isn't a hint of tension, no nail-biting excitement as he struggles to land the flight in a cornfield.
Knight and Day is the kind of film they say you don't need to take your brains along for, and they couldn't be more right. Sad thing is, seems like Cruise and Diaz and the film's makers too didn't take their brains along while making it!
I'm going with two out of five for Knight and Day. Two of the biggest stars are wasted in this film that doesn't know what to do with them!
Rating: 2 / 5
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