Knight and Day - Movie review

Knight and Day
U/A; Thriller/Comedy
Dir: James Mangold
Cast: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Skarsgaard, Viola Davis, Paul Dano, Maggie Grace, Marc Blucas
Rating: ''



What's it about: "Who are you?" asks June (Diaz) as Roy (Cruise) flashes his best Happydent grin. I kept asking the same question for 110-odd minutes. Just when I thought the Scientology guru was over his crazy 'jumping on Oprah's couch' act, he stunned me with this movie.
Roy Miller is an agent who manages to put himself in the trickiest, most hackneyed of situations. The single-line premise is this: Miller has tou00a0 protect Simon Fleck (Dano), the creator of an energy batteryu00a0 from the Spanish mafia. Along the way, Roy bumps into (literally) June at an airport and their bumps continue even on the flight. What follows is a series of chase and fightsu00a0-- on trains, planes, cars and bikes, until they get the answer to that Yoda-like question asked in the beginning.

What's hot: Think of Mr and Mrs Smith without the charm, finesse and razor-edge actionu00a0-- and you get Knight and Day. Tom Cruise leaves no stone unturned (botox, tummy tuck, teeth whitening) to remind you he's still the Top Gun in the business. Diaz still charms you with her smile, making you forgive why she's a part of this mess.

What's not: There's too much dialogue, too manyu00a0 borrowed jokes (from Saturday Night Live) and very little substance to support the scattered plot. Thank God this wasn't 3-D, or watching Cruise grin into our faces would have been a challenge to tackle! Also why does Diaz take pleasure in playing ditzy blonde yet again? Her character is so one dimensional that every time she pretends to get serious we wonder if she might show us a new side. Unfortunately, her emotions are as fake as the driving scene where Cruise and Diaz have a chat in a car loaded on a truck.

What to do: Over the top in action and lame in storytelling, entertaining you seems like a Mission Impossible.
TJ