Director: James Mangold
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz & Peter Sarsgaard
Trying too hard to be a fun, breezy action comedy, Knight and Day struggles to amuse or thrill with its uneven pacing, slight characterization and an annoying turn from Tom Cruise.
Having spent many years struggling through development seeing changes in director, cast and re-writes of the script, Knight and Day comes to cinema screens as a vehicle for Tom Cruise which unites him with Cameron Diaz with whom he starred alongside in 2001’s Vanilla Sky. The result is a film that struggles to entertain, where the frequent changes in the scripts and production show in a film that feels a little disjointed and even the presence of Cruise does not help, with Cruise putting in a performance where his, at one time, natural charisma feels forced and less than charming. Knight and Day comes away feeling quite generic.
June Havens (Diaz) is on her way home to prepare for her sister’s wedding when she bumps into a stranger at the airport named Roy Miller (Cruise) whom, after some confusion over seats, she ends up sitting beside on her flight home. Finding Roy attractive, June’s preconceptions are shattered when Roy attacks members of the flight crew leaving the pilot dead and Roy to land the plane. Roy tells June he is a spy, framed and on the run and for her to deny knowledge of having met him. When June is approached a day later by FBI agents claiming to be looking after her safety, Roy reappears to save June whilst creating havoc and damage on a highway then proceeds to take June on the run with him whilst he clears his name and protects an important device and its creator from forces within the FBI that Roy claims are out to exploit it. Is Roy telling the truth or has he suffered a mental break down as the FBI claim?
Knight and Day’s premise, a spy caper/romantic comedy that stars Cruise and reunites him with Diaz, seems one guaranteed to succeed however the finished film is far from perfect or even satisfying. There is some energy in the film’s action sequences such as a highway pile up and a race through the streets of a Spanish city but little that feels new. The plot feels disjointed at times, perhaps a result of the many writers involved in the script with the action taking jumps from place to place and across continents with little explanation as to why but to offer different locales around the world for audiences to see. There is also little to enjoy about the romance being developed between it’s two leads as Diaz’ June is frequently subjected to drugging to keep her docile while Cruise’s Roy takes her from place to place and most of the finale features June drugged on a truth serum leaving her to act drunken and reckless. As treatment of a female lead character it is poor, as treatment of one that is supposed to feel for the man who is doing this to her it defies belief leaving the romantic element even more unsatisfactory than the spy/secret agent thread that features over familiar tropes like macguffins and double crosses.
The performances in Knight and Day are also fairly average. Cruise, once a star able to charm with ease comes across as forced here as Miller. Cruise is enjoyable sometimes as Miller when he goes into super secret agent mode giving action sequences some energy though this part of the role feels seen before and too much of the time Cruise’s performance borders on the hysterical, bringing into mind similar behaviors Cruise has exhibited in his personal life over recent years. Diaz is quite likeable at times but since her roles leaves her character often drugged and passive or requiring Diaz to act overly hysterical as bullets and explosions fly around her, Diaz is left with little to work with but follow behind Cruise. Sarsgaard is good in the villainous role and Paul Dano makes the most of a minor supporting role but the film is dominated by Cruise and Diaz, but mostly Cruise.
A big disappointment, Knight and Day offers a few enjoyable action sequences but there is little that hasn’t been seen before while the performances consist of a hysterical Diaz being dragged around by an OTT, dominating performance from Cruise with even the romance feeling forced.
Rating: 2/5
