Knight and Day

Knight and Day is a clever picture. The film disguises itself as the world’s most opaque action film only to turn out to be a romantic comedy of sorts in reality. I was shocked to learn that if you carry one viewpoint or the other or are somewhere in between you will at the very least still come away liking this movie. The movie revolves around a woman named June who is trying to get on an airplane to get to her sister’s bridesmaid fitting. June bumps into a man twice before she gets on the plane, both times in her point of view by accident, but they’re meeting is far from coincidental. Through a series of events June ends up on the same plane as the man now named Roy. June goes into flirtation mode and the two of them seem to hit it off and she goes into the bathroom to freshen up thinking she probably has just found a guy to take as her date to the wedding. While June is in the bathroom Roy is confronted and assaulted (rather hilariously) by passengers on the plane who are after something he has. What that is we know not but that is part of what makes this such a fun picture.

This film is like Indiana Jones without the scope and the struggle to find the randomly named treasure. Twenty minutes in we are aware of what the treasure is, how valuable it is, who wants it, and why Roy is motivated to protect it. Essentially in this film you’re not rooting for Tom Cruise playing a character, you’re rooting for Roy Miller because you don’t want that character to lose. The irony of this is most people will be invested in this character because Tom Cruise is playing the role. Could this work with another actor say Will Smith? Sure it could, but Tom makes it okay to not like his character at certain points in the film and I don’t think Will Smith would be able to provide that same ease of transition for this particular picture. Cameron Diaz has a heavy comedy background and I found her work acceptable here but I thought there were a few places where she could have made some funny things happen and instead she continued to rely on slapstick moments. Knight and Day is a fun movie made even better if you see it with a friend or two. Does it warrant a repeat viewing? I don’t think so but it does a fine job at making you laugh and smile without overselling the idea that this very much is a vehicle for Tom Cruise. I can safely recommend this film to all who enjoy a good laugh or who enjoy espionage.