Knight And Day

Film Review: KNIGHT AND DAY (2010)

RATING 6/10

BOTTOM LINE: “Knight And Day” has an intriguing take on an old formula and a solid start, but unfortunately turns in to stupidity and silliness by the climax, and its star leads share virtually no chemistry whatsoever.

THE GOOD: The best way to describe this film is to say it is a James Bond film told from the point of view of the Bond girl. In this way, “Knight and Day” starts off in a good place. Through a seemingly chance meeting at an airport, June Havens (Cameron Diaz) is pulled in to a deadly chase for secret agent Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) when the two of them are put together on the same flight. As June realises that Roy is a force to be reckoned with, the pair bicker and fight their way through a haze of gun fire and tricky situations, with June unable to figure out who the bad guy really is. The first thirty minutes of the film are perhaps the best, with Tom Cruise actually portraying the double-sided nature of his character quite well, and Cameron Diaz doing her usual ditzy blonde routine. Many of the action sequences are well realised, particularly the motorcycle chase in Spain. “Knight and Day” has been created as a piece of fun popcorn entertainment, with two likeable leads and the usual mayhem.

THE BAD: Although starting in a good place, “Knight and Day” quickly degenerates in to stupidity and silliness, with a good dose of bad computer generated special effects thrown in. There is not one particular moment that sets it off, but rather a steady downhill slide, starting with a poorly realised flight crash scene, to a running of the bulls scene (with computer bulls), to the completely out of place touch of June becoming Roy’s saviour and getting him out of harm’s way at the end of the film. How such a professional secret agent in Miller could allow a clutzy woman like June follow him without being noticed in a crucial stage in the film, or how June could have the knowledge of getting Miller out of hospital and escaping the clutches of the intelligence agencies is beyond belief to the point of being laughable, despite being a punctuation mark for the way their relationship started. All of this may have been okay if Cruise and Diaz actually had any chemistry together but they do not. “Knight and Day” is ultimately stupid; yet another Hollywood film that takes a decent idea, or a riff on a decent idea, and turns it in to mass-produced popcorn to appeal to those with short attention spans.

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

Knight & Day- Tom Cruise is the best part of this poor attempt at mocking the Spy genre

Whether you love him or hate him there is no denying that actor Tom Cruise has personality. It seems the limelight can never forgive him for his outburst of craziness on Oprah or for his devoted faith as a Scientologist, but it certainly hasn’t really affected his box office draw. That’s because Tom Cruise possesses a charm that is unlike any other actor making films today and his new film Knight & Day, though a sluggish piece of generic action fluff, proves that charisma can prevent a film from being torn apart at the seams. There isn’t much in James Mangold’s new action film that is at all fresh and there are obvious signs that the subject matter could have offered better comedic and satirical opportunities, which leaves you a bit unsatisfied as the film gets progressively worse during its final presentation. Though Mangold has definitely had better films, including his revisionist western remake 3:10 to Yuma and his academy award nominated film Walk the Line, Knight & Day is not his worst, and by that standard isn’t yet the summer’s worst action film. However, there are many elements about Knight & Day that are clearly weak, including the aging Cameron Diaz, and simply doesn’t deliver a consistently enjoyable summer action flick despite Cruise’s undeniable presence and charm.
            The spy genre has a pretty straight forward and expected delivery and that can be used as an advantage when layering comedy into a script that has certain expectations. This worked for the likes of Airplane for melodramas and Tropic Thunder due to our familiarity with the egos in the film industry. Knight & Day could have been the next one to be an action film along with tons of musings on the spy genre formula, but fails to take advantage of such a good opportunity. The film centers around June Havens, a fairly uninspiring Cameron Diaz, who ends up in the middle of a secret agency war against a seemingly mentally unstable Agent named Roy Miller (Tom Cruise). Roy needs to protect a highly powerful new energy source from getting in the wrong hands, while at the same time protecting June from getting killed every time she makes one erroneous decision after another. But seriously who could be as stupid as June, who continuously puts herself and Roy in danger because she just doesn’t use her brain? It seems as though the writers just stuck with the idea that the girl should be dimwitted rather than just parodying the typical spy genre’s elements to make it entertaining. Of course the film revolves around an insider traitor, though the film never really gives you any sense of ambiguity taking a great ingredient of surprise from the entire experience. Knight & Day is just a straightforward action film; no thought or brains needed as the car explosions and body count keep distracting you from the lack of inventiveness.
            The moments where the film plays around with familiar visuals and expected scenarios in Knight & Day is when the film is at its best and usually features the calm and collected Tom Cruise. Especially in the opening action sequence of an airplane crashing after Tom Cruise has killed the entire crew and passengers (don’t worry they’re all bad) and his ability to deliver his lines makes the situation more humorous than it was initially written in dialogue. Another hilarious moment is when we’re locked in the Diaz point of view, where everything is blurry due to being drugged, and getting momentary visual lapses into what is going on with Tom Cruise’s character such as hanging upside down and swinging in a dark interrogation room. But such fleeting moments in Knight & Day are merely just anecdotes to more than slightly generic action film. As the film progresses the action gets less engaging and too expected. Compare the last chase scene to the first one and within the former there is a greater use of Tom Cruise’s personality lighting up the more average moments. Unfortunately Cameron Diaz is on the screen a majority of the time and she’s not only looking as though she lacks life but seriously reminds us that she can’t act and was strictly given roles based on her looks.
            Perhaps it isn’t all Diaz’s fault that the film lags and brings down the momentum of the film. The writing isn’t extraordinary and borders on cliché quite a bit, while James Mangold’s action directing seems a tad choreographed unlike his exhilarating and real action scenes in 3:10 to Yuma. The rest of the cast almost seems dead in comparison to their acting capabilities. This includes the talented Paul Dano from Little Miss Sunshine and There Will Be Blood fame as well as the great Peter Sarsgaard who seems there for a pay check more than anything else. Don’t blame Peter for seeming rigid because it’s really the character within the script and how it’s written. Knight & Day is another one of those films that concocted a great lead character and failed to flourish out the one’s around him. Tom Cruise definitely has the charm familiar to most audiences in the forms of Top Gun, Jerry Maguire, and Rain Man and luckily holds the film up in the more average area instead of it plummeting into total failure. With an undeveloped supporting character arsenal, progressively worse action sequences, and wasted opportunities with genre, Knight & Day is really another summer film that you should see if you’re bored and not because it’s really any good.
            James Mangold has been known to develop better films even though Knight & Day is generally not his worst. As the summer progresses there are usually a couple of dips in the quality of films one is able to choose from and Knight & Day is a better choice than say Killers. However, Knight & Day ends up being a reminder that the summer of 2010 is one of the worst movie outing summers in recent memory, offering more and more generic and unoriginal options that are also lacking fresh dialogue, intriguing narratives, and relatable characters. Luckily Tom Cruise is the main reason to this film and if you just happen to be a fan than he won’t disappoint. But if you’re looking for an original and possibly satirical take on the spy genre than it unfortunately will feel strained and fails in the end to be thoroughly engaging. Sometimes a film needs more than just a charismatic lead actor and is able to offer all of the elements that make a film great; the main attribute being the story.

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Recommendations: Red Riding, Fish Tank , Mystery Team

KNIGHT AND DAY

Knight and Day is the second film starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.  In their first, Vanilla Sky, they had considerably less time on screen together.  Here we get to see just how much on-screen chemistry they have.  And they do make quite a good pairing together.  It's too bad that the movie itself just isn't that good.  The story is way too far-fetched.  Even if it's not meant to be taken seriously, it's still just too over-the-top and implausible to really become invested in the film.
Cruise is playing a secret agent just as he did in the Mission Impossible films, but this character is having a lot more fun.  He goes about completing his tasks with a lot of humor mixed into his actions.  You would think that would make this a better film since it has a fun feel to it.  But I'll take the craftier action and intense drama of the superb Mission: Impossible III over this light fluff anyday.  Sure, it makes for a nice date movie as it mixes romance with both action and humor all at once.  But it's not a movie that's going to stay with you afterwards or that you'll have any urge to see again in the future.
Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz do their part as much as they can; the fault of this movie is really in the sometimes preposterous writing.  Cruise probably chose this role to show a more light-hearted side of himself to change people's recent opinions of him.  He already showed he can be funny in Tropic Thunder, though he's a more likeable character personality-wise in this film.  There are some interesting action scenes too, some of which Cruise came up with himself, but still not enough to make up for a lackluster script.

Recommendations: The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Se7en , 25th Hour

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-philadelphia/danny-porcaro

Knight and Day - **1/2

Review:  This summer has been a horrid display of bad uninteresting movies that appeal to very few.  There have been many people that have complained and suggested that maybe this is the lowest Hollywood has ever been.  That may be so, but that is neither here nor there.  I bring this up because Knight and Day is a solid diversion in a summer that is otherwise devoid of anything interesting.

Knight and Day centers around a meeting of fate between two travelers played by Cruise and Diaz.  Or is actually fate?  Anyway, Cruise plays the mysterious Roy Miller and Diaz is the innocent June who is enamored with Roy's suave personality after a couple of "coincidental" run ins.  Eventually the two wind up on a plane full of highly trained assassin types that are after Miller for some reason not known to the audience.  Miller dispatches all the assassin types far too easily and they wind up alone on the plane with no pilots and having to land it themselves.  Eventually, Miller is able to land the plane and now the two find themselves on the run from bad people who want Miller or something he has for a reason we are not privy too.

Together Miller and June get themselves into many precarious situations and as easily get themselves out of them.  The fun in this movie isn't in it's originality or well done action.  Rather, the fun of this movie is the joy Cruise takes in his performance and the interaction/chemistry between Cruise and Diaz.  The two go back and forth and Cruise's suave demeanor carries them through multiple sticky situations.  Eventually, June begins to catch on and fires back on her own leading to some very good back and forth.  This makes for a very enjoyable first half of the movie.

Where the movie fails is from the halfway part to the end.  The movie starts to lose it's appeal as it falls into double crossing "who's playing who" normal spy stuff littered with usual action and causes the audience to lose interest.  This is unfortunate because the first half really had something going. 

Maybe it is because the summer has been so atrocious for movies (if so they picked the right summer for this movie) but this movie I found to be quite enjoyable even despite it's faults.  The movie was a fun, standard summer movie fare and I would say it is worth your time.

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Knight and day

Imagine the screenwriter's or his agent's sales pitch to some exec at a studio:

You know Bourne? Well this guy is Bourne without ... the amnesia. But with a sense of humor. You known Bond? You know Mission Impossible? Well this is all of those and then some. And Tom Cruise won't be able to resist this script...

Well he or she was right. Very right. Screenwriter Patrick O'Neill sold his screenplay. And 20th Century Fox, a News Company, and Regency Pictures got a return on their investment from me on the day the picture opened, hours ago, today.

Cruise is Roy Miller, not the Roy Miller played by Matt Damon (Bourne) in Green Zone; just another Roy Miller who happens to be one of those super spy/agents (pick one).



Cameron Diaz plays June Havens, a reular girl with the interest, knowledge, and skills necessary in restoring heavy metal cars. She's plenty cute, with a winning smile, and you'll have no trouble liking her.



Well Havens and Miller bump into one another (literally) and twice, at the Wichita airport. Havens is in Kansas because it is Used Car parts heaven. And Miller is there because they've got meet somewhere.



From bumping into one another they go on to plane crashes, high speed road chases, rooftop chases in Salzburg, Austria, assorted shoot-outs with CIA agents, swat teams under the employ of a evil Spaniard arms merchant, a fight to the death on a train in the Austrian Alps, and they even find themselves in the midst of the running of the bulls in Sevilla, Espana.



It is a thrill a minute (almost) adventure, with some cute man/woman banter as you'd expect in a rom/com. All of which is about this 'thing' which is called The Zephyr. It really doesn't matter what the thing is. Suffice to say, lots of folks want it, and there's nothing they won't do to get or to keep it. Hitchcock called such a device a MacGuffin because it is simply an object that people will chase each other around for it. Its real purpose is less important than its intended use as a plot device.



Ok, that's what you're going to see. The story isn't much more than what I've outlined above. Don't be expecting anything too serious.



Though some of the reviews are less than enthusiastic, and some readers comments make negative references to Cruise's height, his Scientology affiliation, or his wierd turn on Oprah's couch -  I was entertained. Not royally entertained. But I will go so far as to say handsomely entertained.



Yeah, it's lightweight, but that is why it is a summer release. Yeah, the action is mindless - Miller can't miss, but the bad guys chasing the hero and heroine rarely succeed. Oh sure, by my count, Miller is hit by bullets three times. But he is never hurt bad. A simple fade to black, a change of locales, and he's fine. Which takes us back to mindless.



Some have said that the chemistry between Diaz and Cruise is lacking. I didn't think so. They are movie stars. They are nice to look at and they do have mega-watt smiles. Just because there's isn't a sex scene in the film doesn't mean they didn't have chemistry.



And yeah there are plot holes galore. But so what? Director James Mangold earned his money, As did Cruise and Diaz.



I think as a piece of summer entertainment, or a fall entertainment, if you wait for the DVD, the film succeeds. It's not perfect, but they did spend a bundle in producing it. And if it doesn't quite fit exactly into a niche called action/comedy, nor is it really Bondian, nor is it truly Bourneque, it has enough elements from those films, as well thrills and excitement to keep you in your seats for the entire 110 minutes.



When you leave the theater you will feel satisfied. Which is what you want.

Recommendations: Chak De! India