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2010, Rated PG-13, 109 minutes, Directed by James Mangold, Written by Patrick O’Neill, Produced by Arnon Milchan, Cinematography by Phedon Papmichael, Original Music by John Powell
With: Tom Cruise (Roy Miller), Cameron Diaz (June Havens), Peter Sarsgaard (Fitzgerald), Jordi Molla (Antonio), Viola Davis (Director George), Simon Feck (Paul Dano)
We’re in the heat (figuratively and literally) of summer blockbuster season and Knight and Day fits quite well amidst the competition. It is a true action comedy flick that has a decent balance between the two genres. While the plot could have been much more hashed out and better developed, as opposed its jumpy scene changes that span half of the northern, and perhaps some of the southern, hemisphere, it makes up for this with the wonderful acting and chemistry between Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. It is an engaging film that, although it does not stand out as a cinematic masterpiece is a fun movie that provides a welcome respite from the heat of the summer.
The film centers on two very different characters: June Havens (Cameron Diaz), a single woman who owns a auto restoration shop and lives out an ordinary life, and Roy Miller (Tom Cruise), a super agent for the US government who is trying to keep a break through energy invention, the Zephyr, and its inventor safe. The two meet on a plane that turns out to be full of federal agents charged with bringing in Roy Miller. Roy, being the super spy that he is masterfully eliminates all the passengers except June and crash lands the plane in a field. After the crash landing June gets her first of many druggings and wakes up in her bed alone.
Both June and Roy are being hunted down by the US government and June finds herself with no choice but to join this smooth, attractive, yet comedically weird agent. Their evasion leads them to several European countries, a deserted island and even South America as they also try to track down Simon Feck, the genius inventor of the Zephyr. Many a chase scene ensues, yet not as many as would be expected, the sexual tension between the two of course increases, and uniquely June finds herself drugged out of the action multiple times.
The chemistry between Diaz and Cruise made Knight and Day a fun film to watch. Diaz took on the role of a naive, screaming confused, and in this case drugged bombshell character to the T. Sure it was a pretty standard role but she managed to bring life to the role and it was quite enjoyable to watch her comedically realize her place in Roy Millers world and then attempt to assimilate into it as best she could amidst many a misunderstanding and mishap. Roy Miller is a role that Cruise was born to play. The over the top action hero is quintessentially Cruise especially after his recurring role in the Mission Impossible films. But he brought something new to the role: humor. Sure we saw a certain sense of humor in Top Gun but Cruise really stepped up his game to become a very funny but capable manic super spy. The two actors were great by themselves, but what put them over the top was their chemistry together. They had a great rhythm with each other and did an excellent job of balancing their characters out. It was great fun to watch them interact and play off of each other.
While the two lead actors were a significant redeeming quality in the film, Knight and Day was dragged down by a jumpy and lazily written story. Too many jumps were made in the film and it read more like a trip itinerary than a well developed story. Witchita to Boston, Boston to a tropical island, tropical island to Austria, Austria to Spain, then Spain to Boston. Granted, super spies like Jason Bourne and James Bond make global jumps like this all the time. The big difference between the two is the transitions between the two are explained well. The transitions in Knight and Day, while they sort of made sense, happened all to fast and often seemed a little too contrived. Perhaps they would have been better explained if they had not drugged the Diaz’s character to jump to the next scene.
It was quite frustrating to see a conflict unfold and to prepare for a great action sequence, only to find out that instead Roy was going to drug June and the audience would be oblivious to what happened in those scenes. At first I thought maybe they were trying to save money by avoiding those scenes. Fortunately I was wrong on this assumption: it turns out this was very intentional on James Mangold’s part: So I didn't want to make a movie where you got your head hit by a hammer for two hours. That strikes me as a kind of insecure action. It's like, "We're so nervous because we have no characters you care about, so we're just going to keep it moving so fast so that you feel like you are caught in a blender for 90 minutes." So in essence he avoided numerous action sequences so that we would focus more on the characters. I supposed that is mission accomplished but only punic victory. Sure the characters were great, but they could have been even more enhanced by developing these scenes instead of just skipping over them completely. An attempt at greater character development resulted in an underdeveloped plot. There has got to be a more creative way to develop characters than drugging one of them.
One thing that I have to mention was the music. Being a huge fan of music, I think I pay attention to it more within the context of film. The music on Knight and Day was one of the most repetitive scores I have hear in a while. Every piece had a Parisian sounding tone and mellow to fast paced tempo and it all sounded the same. There was no variety in it at all and instead of adding more to each film it added the same exact thing each time and detracted from the scene itself. The funny thing was there was not a single scene in France.
Knight and Day is a very entertaining summer film. Sure it has its faults: the plot could have been much more developed and there could have been more action, despite what Mangold has to say on the subject. With these poorly executed aspects, you end up with a film that the main characters carry into the entertaining spectrum. Cruise and Diaz do a great job in the film; they make the movie fun and enjoyable. And all in all, it is a fun and enjoyable movie. Just do not go in expecting to have your cinematic world shattered and you will have a great time.
B
Interview with James Mangold from amc’s filmcritic.com, q&a by Sean O’Connell,
Content Advisory
mild use of profanity, several intense action scenes with some violence, and minor mentions of sex
Food for thought/discussion
1. Is this movie making a critique of the United States intelligence agencies? If so, how?
2. Miller had to walk away from his entire life, family and friends to become a secret agent for his country. Did he sacrifice too much? How far would you be willing to go for something you believed in?
3. Both characters have regrets in the way they have lived their life. At one point Miller says “Someday. That’s a dangerous word. It’s really just a code for ‘never’.” What does this express about the satisfaction they have with their lives? What drives your dreams?
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