Knight and Day

I could go on this little diatribe about the raw deal Tom Cruise got, but whatever. Dude was in love with a 25 year old, jumped on a couch, then made some stupid comments in the name of his bizarre religion. He rubbed people the wrong way and because of it he became a punchline. He has not starred in a movie in a few years and to be honest, I have missed him. Cruise was a movie star. He could do the big action picture and still make thoughtful dramas and get nominated for awards. He has a winning smile and has made quite a few good to great movies. There was a lot written about what his first project back would be. He was circling 4 movies at one point, including Salt, which now stars Angelina Jolie, but ultimately landed with Knight and Day. He was re teaming with Cameron Diaz for an action comedy that looked kind of like a throw back film. Of course, a big problem came when Killers looked just like Knight and Day, but with younger and hotter talent. That being said, I was relatively excited about the prospect of Tom Cruise toplining a summer action movie again.

June Havens(Diaz) and Roy Miller(Cruise) appear to randomly bump into each other at an airport and then they do it again right before they get on the flight. After some doing, Havens and Miller end up on the same flight, and Havens believes there must be reason and she wants to make her move, so she goes to the bathroom to pep herself up and while she does that, Miller disarms an entire flight of CIA agents trying to kill him. Miller tries to explain to Havens what is going on and while she thinks he is kidding, Miller lands the plane and knocks Havens out. However, Miller and Havens are not through with each other as Miller feels obligated to protect her, but the CIA is spinning a story about how Miller is a crazy agent who went off his mission to crazy town. It is not difficult to believe the CIA, but Havens is drawn to Miller. He is charming, extremely cool under pressure and has a way out of everything. He is carrying this self charging battery that could power entire cities and he thinks one of the CIA agents is dirty, so he is keeping it safe while trying to keep Havens safe.

Knight and Day is a pretty mixed bag, but for the first hour, the action and comedy work pretty well. Cruise wears the role of a light hearted spy like a comfortable pair of jeans and he is clearly having a good time with the jokes. He and Diaz have a nice friendly chemistry, which works for and against the movie and the action stunts are all done with this knowing tone, like everyone involved knows it is all just ridiculous and that makes everything more fun. Cruise still has that movie star look and he carries that movie star arrogance proudly, but he sometimes looks like he is trying too hard, like maybe this was not exactly the right vehicle for him to use as his comeback picture. I know he was looking for something light hearted and action packed, but there is something old about how this movie plays out.

That being said, I did have some fun with the first half of the film. I enjoyed the set and the breezy way the action was filmed and the general tone of the film. Diaz and Cruise have some great moments in that time, including a better than average meetcute that lasts through the plane crash and I wanted the relationship to stay in that area, but the movie tries too hard to shoehorn a romance between the characters and I just did not really buy into the idea that they could be in love. I could buy the flirty opening and some of the lighter things, but once there was a sweeping shot lit perfectly with them kissing, I was over it. They did nothing to earn that moment to me. Yes, they deserved a few of the funnier romantic moments, but the movie did nothing to me to think they deserved such gorgeous looking frame up for a kiss.

Another problem that started as an interesting moment was how the action was almost always told from Diaz's point of view. The first big action sequence we only get glimpses of it the way she does as she comes in and out of being drugged up. At first, it seems like a really interesting way to move the story along and it actually provides some funny moments that help the tone of the film, but as the movie goes on, I kind of wanted to get a more grand scope of the action. I wanted it more from a 3rd person view, like have the camera pull further out and let me really see what was going on. By committing to the idea that she is out POV character, the director handcuffs himself into that idea throughout the film. There was potential for some better stunts, but we only got glimpses of the daring escapes and chases.

Knight and Day is pretty messy and it ultimately does not deliver enough laughs or explosions to make the full movie experience worth it and as a romantic venture it fails even more. Diaz still has these gorgeous blue eyes and she can pratfall well, but something just seemed off. The entire thing was trying too hard to be too much and it end sup not being enough of anything. The comedy goes away to give way to a love story, Cruise is trying to regain what he had, only to falter because he is trying so hard. It is clear the movie had multiple rewrites and even reshoots because of just how messy it is. And it is not better than Killers released a month ago with the same tone and general story.

Final Grade: C-