Review of Knight and Day (2010) by Thomas B — 30 Jan 2015

The premise is acceptable. Girl meets guy, girl is interested in guy, guy turns out to be a covert-operative on the run from an organisation of some sort. It's been used before of course (The Bourne Identity for example) but very rarely has it been used this badly. The very definition of fluff, this film trips and stumbles its way through 2 hours of boring plot twists, bad acting and writing which is pure excrement. .

The inspiration may well have been North by Northwest but, unfortunately, what that film had, and this film doesn't, is a script. And Cary Grant. But most importantly a script. For a comedy action film, there isn't too much in the comedy box. Very little in fact. Sure there is the occassional joke that sticks, but most fall flat. And I mean flat. Like pancake, nay, crepe flat. If you're expecting to be entertained by the witty banter between the two leads do not watch this film. Sure, the chemistry between the two is pretty good, Diaz and Cruise both pull their weight in that respect, but they aren't backed up by the screenwriters at all. In fact it seems as if they've done all they can to hamper the pair. The lack of a coherent plot, too, is extremely noticeable. The Macguffin leads to nuffin (see what I did there?) and the disappointing thing is that after that section is completed, there is nothing else to go to, just a loosely connected sub-plot full of absurd nods and winks to previous scenes. And even though the action sequences are quite good in their own right, the fact that they aren't connected to each other means that the entire thing is a mish-mash of set pieces which amount to nothing. .

The direction is amteur at best. Mangold keeps the same intensity throughout the entire piece, making for a very bland film without light or shade or anything in between. There are some moments which work, when Miller jumps a motorbike and disappears the next for example. But these moments are few far between and it's the between which is such a problem. .

Diaz seems to have texted this one in, not even having the decency to call, hiding behind her face splitting smile and typical girly-girl act. It helps that this is the writers' definition of a chick mechanic, however. And that she is unconcious for half the film. Cruise is the main redeeming factor in this. Even though his career of late has been jumping on couches and basically being his looney self, he shows that he actually is capable of acting. His Roy Miller is a fun character, all-knowing and a little bit off his head, though apparently very very good at what he does, and he proves this occassionally which creates the majority of the action set pieces. The first half-hour is mainly an introduction to Miller as he bashes he way through a plane-ful of people, drugs the girl, shoots her ex and creates some pretty cool car chases. Popping off the occassional funny (Nobody follows or I shoot myself then her) and displaying some impressive fight choreography. After this first half-hour, the film disintegrates into what it really is: a big fat mess. The ending is so sugary that you may actually feel your teeth begin to rot. .

Basically, keep well away from this film or risk being a part of a box-office fiasco akin to Transformers 2. Trust me, as good as the trailer looks and as fun as may seem, you will leave the cinema regretting spending your money on such a pointless and boring film. That is all. .

Defining Scene: .

This is basically the lesser of all the evils but the best one from the lot is definitely on the plane.