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Movie review: Knight and Day: Tongue-in-Cheek Fun
BY SANDRA OLMSTEAD
Knight and Day, directed by James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma), has a number of good qualities to recommend it, but an important message and studied character development are not among the film’s attributes. However, the film has its charms.
One of those charms is that the film has an air of knowing it is all just supposed to be fun, an air in which self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek humor pervades the death-defying, suspenseful action sequences with a style that shouts “no matter how bad it gets, everything will turn out all right.” In some ways, this attitude of “things will work out and we, the actors, the audience, the writer, the director, et al., know it” provides a parody for the romantic comedy, action adventure, and spy thriller genres in which this film dabbles.
Another of the film’s charms is that its stars, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz , have great chemistry in the way that opposites attract. While Cruise projects an über-control vibe, Diaz projects easy-going openness, and their on-screen personas complement the characters each play so well it is hard to differentiate brilliant casting from lackadaisical directing.
Consequently, it works that Cruise plays Roy Miller, a super spy who can take control of any situation, kill frequently and efficiently, and make the outcome his own and that Diaz plays June Havens, a women who would love to fall in love and sees a short business trip as an opportunity for a romantic adventure. June’s past and present are an open book and mercifully not too stereotypical; June is an auto mechanic fixing up a vintage car as a wedding gift for the younger sister she raised after the loss of their parents.
It’s June who takes the audience on a search for Roy’s past and must unravel the truth of his present. Is Roy a good guy protecting the world or a rogue agent out for his own gain? Where did he learn to kill in such a carefree manner? Does he really like June, and is he protecting her or using her? Why does he keep watch over a small suburban house via his cell phone? Who is Roy Miller, if that really is his name, and should June trust him with her life, and, more importantly, her heart?
The action sequences are exercises in improbability, done with an eye for the wow factor and humor, and Patrick O’Neill, a debut screenwriter, seems to have borrowed a page from Jackie Chan’s playbook for the stunts, if not the plot. In fact, I am pretty sure I have seen many of these same stunts done by Jackie Chan, and this observation provides an interesting puzzle. If audiences can escape into Chan’s style of action comedies, will they accept Cruise performing the same stunts in the same tongue-in-cheek manner? If audiences do have a problem with Knight and Day, it might have to do with Chan’s characters rarely killing their adversaries, while Cruise’s Roy kills incessantly, racking up a big body count without any appearance of moral or ethical conflict.
There is also a good cast to support the stars. Peter Sarsgaard (Orphan) plays Fitzgerald, the agent working against Roy, and Viola Davis (Eat Pray Love; August 2010 release) plays Director George, the head of a government agency intent on reining in Roy. Jordi Mollà (Zenitram) plays Antonio, an international arms dealer who also wants the super battery and its teenage creator, Simon Feck, played by Paul Dano (The Extra Man). However, all of the film’s characters are stock ones made more interesting by clever casting choices, good performances, and talented actors.
