Knight and Day is an action/comedy that puts two A-listers together for the first time since Vanilla Sky: Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The movie is not complex, but just simple fun and entertaining. It provides thrills and laughs, and Cruise and Diaz are the providers of all of this. It is their performances and chemistry that really works and makes the movie better than what it really is.
Knight and Day is about being at the wrong place and wrong time. June Havens (Cameron Diaz) was at the wrong place and wrong time. She runs in to Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) a few times at the airport before they end up being on the same plane. By the time the plane lands (or I should say crashes), June knows what Roy is fully capable of. Come to find out, Roy is a super agent who is carrying this battery that the CIA wants and so does a weapons dealer from Spain. This battery is full of power and the one who has it will have that power in the palm of their hands. And since June and Roy were seen together, she gets thrown in the chaotic world that Roy is a part of.
The movie goes all over the world and has some crazy action sequences. Some are so over-the-top and outlandish, but it is a blast to see it on the big screen. And the movie has no limits, which some may see as a flaw, but the movie is able to have a lot of freedom and Cruise and Diaz can share that same freedom when it comes to their performances.
June is a sweet woman who has no idea what she is getting in to. Diaz has this personality and smile that makes you fall in love with her. And all of her characters have that likability factor. June is swept up in a world she has no clue about with a guy she has no clue about. She is just along for the ride whether she likes it or not. Roy is a perfect character for Tom Cruise. He is a little like Ethan Hunt but with a sense of humor. Roy has wit and thinks fast on his feet. And it is possible to get confused on the real difference between Ethan Hunt from the Mission Impossible movies and Roy Miller in this. Cruise is back to doing stunts on cars, rooftops, and motorcycles.
Diaz and Cruise really work well together. Due to their star-power, more people will go see this movie. That is a given. But when two big movie stars seem so comfortable together and nothing seems forced, the movie benefits from it. These two are having fun and it definitely shows.
James Mangold directs Knight and Day. This material seems a little more out there compared to his other films like Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma. He knows drama and action, but this movie is a mainstream, summer event. It is a big movie with a big platform and he keeps it going in the right direction. Even with a story lacking substance, he keeps the movie alive and kicking.
This is not the perfect summer action movie. It is exciting, however, more interesting the first hour than the last. Everything is new and fresh within that first hour and then it gets repeated during the second hour. And Peter Sarsgaard and Viola Davis are talented actors but are given nothing in this. Their characters are flat and have little purpose. It is just disappointing to see because these two are capable of so much more and portraying better characters.
Thanks to Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, Knight and Day is an above-average adventure movie that is light but fun. It does not take itself seriously and just wants to entertain the audience for 2 hours or so. Mission Accomplished Roy Miller (aka Ethan Hunt).
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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