Knight and Day

Plot

Roy Miller, is a former CIA operative – who is being chased by his former bosses, and a mob boss – for an object that will help power a city. He is paired with a citizen, the hapless June – and now they must together keep the item safe.

Direction

While the action is ‘non stop’ – none of it feels genuine – especially in a Tom Cruise vehicle. Most of it is either quick cuts, with no time to see that it is stunt work, or on poor blue screen with even worse CGI. Why have Tom Cruise in your movie if you don’t let Tom Cruise be Tom Cruise? There is also some bad use of ‘movie cliché’s at the end (fade to white, and seagulls at gunshot). There is some odd use of lighting in one scene that had an almost ‘noir’ like feel to it that was just out of place from the rest of the film.

Cast/Characters

Cruise sells it as Miller, and he is the ‘superspy’ who has more plot armour than any of the heroes he’s played before combined. He is likeable, and actually quite funny – and in on the joke. Diaz struggled a little as the ‘not quite ditzy’ ‘not quite effeminate’ June. I felt she was a little miscast in this role.

Screenplay/Setting

The screenplay tried a little too hard to be silly, and sometimes it was a little on the nose – while other times, such as the June drugged sequence were actually quite funny. The 3rd act reveal of the ‘baddie’ was pretty obvious – and other villain was completely forgettable.

Overall

I tried hard to like this, but found most of the film frustrating as I think it struggled to really understand its own themes and genre. There was a score that was a little on the nose, and existed only to create false feelings. There were more downs than ups, and I wouldn’t recommend this.

2/5