Knight and Day, directed by James Mangold, comes with the big summer release hardsell. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz topline what promised to be a swell ride in the unpretentious tradition of old-school action films -- trailers, they all look good, don't they? -- but it eyes two viewers divided in spirit. The action fan looking for his fix and the sucker for this sort of deception-laced rom-coms. Tricky pitch, that.
Knight and Day leads with Roy Miller (Tom Cruise), a rogue agent hunted by the CIA, as he tries to protect friend Simon Feck (Paul Dano) and an everlasting battery, the Zephyr, that he has created. June Havens (Cameron Diaz) is the kind of chatty, unsuspecting looker who makes default foil for such edgy protagonists. So they hook up on an aircraft full of assassins who are trying to wipe Miller off.
Knight and Day Action Setpieces
The mid-air action sequence sets the tone for Knight and Day; it's the first in a series of stunt set-pieces that power this film through. Mangold and writer Patrick O'Neill milk every norm the two genres have to offer. For starters, the covert, cocky lead man on the run, the hassled babe who gets caught in the chase and a crackling eroticism that seems to feed off the explosions and gunshots around them. Cruise and Diaz are the kind of big movie stars required to run such make-believe lustre. And they do it with the right shots of glint-eyed conviction.
Knight and Day works for a good part of its run because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Mangold lets you share Havens' own incredulity, as she gets tossed into this ludicrous maze of double-crossing agents, arms dealers and dogged assassins. It's an absurd, reason-bending ride but it's a ride you don't want to refuse. That, however, shouldn't take anything away from the smashing stuntwork all through: notably the ones in a secluded island, a moving snow train on the Alps and the streets of Seville (there's a zanily drafted sequence with rampaging bulls in the middle of a road chase).
Cruise, Diaz and a Dangerous Romance
Knight and Day, despite its core actioner essentials, is also a breezy romance of the opposites. It's racy, funny and self-nudgy for most of its runtime. It's the kind of film in which the man walks past sniper shots to his woman and kisses her; in which the woman snuggles up in the car recliner and the man, surviving another day on the run, tries to catch sleep, all against a mood-lit night skyline.
Rating: 3/5
- Director: James Mangold
- Cast: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz
- Running time: 109 minutes
Krishna Kumar - Senior journalist with more than 10 years' experience, on print and web. Has held senior positions in reporting and feature teams in ...
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