Review of Knight and Day (2010) by Alexander D — 20 Oct 2011

Tom Cruise goes on another spy mission, and this time around, there is nothing impossible about it. KNIGHT & DAY is like GET SMART, except with Cruise instead of Carrell, and Diaz instead of Hathaway. Though flawed, it is hard not to enjoy.

Okay, so there's a fairly good combination of genres here, to start with. It's basically a cross between an action movie and a buddy comedy, with a hint of romance. The film starts when Roy Miller (Cruise), a spy, and June Havens (Diaz) bump into each other at a Kansas airport, more than once. June is intending to take a restored car to her sister as a birthday present, but even though she has flight reservations, she is informed that her flight is overbooked. (Sounding unusual already?) Seeing that she has bumped into Roy again, a Federal agent assumes that she is with Roy and puts her back on the list, leaving them on the same plane. Then, all hell breaks loose on the plane, which has only a few other people aboard.

The acting was a considerable issue with KNIGHT & DAY. Both Will Smith and Gerard Butler were considered for the role that eventually fell into the hands of Tom Cruise, and with the silly performance he gives, either one of them would have worked much better. Also, Diaz was a good choice, but the way she laughs at everything and takes very little seriously for at least half of the film; it makes her character, a) seem like she is using drugs, and b) tip the balance that was made on what defines a screen couple.

The action is a whole other thing. It seems nonstop, fun, and just short of ridiculous; and for an uncommon case in spy film history, it fits the plot line well. So I really shouldn't say that this film should have stayed in "development hell" (believe it or not, it was in there for quite a while!); it just wasn't the best.