MyRating: YYY1/2Director: James Mangold
Cast: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Dano, Jordi Molla, Viola Davis, Maggie Grace
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sequences of action violence throughout, and brief strong language
Tom Cruise has been in the rough spot for years, since his jumping couch drama in The Oprah Winfrey Show. That has become an iconic moment in the movie history (like the wind blew Marilyn Monroe's skirt off in "The Seven Year Itch" or Audrey Hepburn smoked her long pipe in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", and for Tom Cruise, it was in "Oprah"). I believe people will never forget that moment for many years to come, no matter for the people who hate him or for the ones who love him. Many also dislike him for his belief and religion. And the impact is distinct, we can see that his star power is diminishing, if we rate him by his box office success in the last several years. He seems to be no more a 'box office success guarantee' as he used to be in his wonder years, with his successful movies like Top Gun, Rain Man and Mission: Impossible. And years after the couch incident, his image doesn't seem to get better. Having said all that and knowing all the hatred that Cruise has received, I would like to start my review by saying that, I like Tom Cruise. I think, and I believe, that he is a great actor, maybe one the best that Hollywood ever has.
Knight and Day follows the story of Roy Miller (Cruise), a secret agent with an unbelievable surviving skills, who purposely bumps into June Havens (Diaz), an ordinary woman in an airport, to secretly put something very important inside her suitcase, in order to pass through the airport security gate. That thing is a perpetual energy battery called the Zephyr, created by a genius inventor, Simon Feck (Dano), which can be used as a powerful weapon. The battery is being wanted by many parties, including the CIA, with the agent in charge Agent Fitzgerald (Sarsgaard) and a Spanish arms dealer, Antonio (Molla). And unexpectedly, June is dragged into an adventure with Roy to protect the battery and the inventor, and escape the killers. It's the most dangerous adventure that June ever has to experience, and she is the most beautiful woman Roy ever has to protect.
This is a fun summer action movie with a strong cast. Both the actors, Cruise and Diaz, made it worked. And their good chemistry and funny dialogs made this movie enjoyable to watch. Cruise is perfect as Roy Miller. He is such a charismatic actor. It's good to see him having fun in this movie with his 'I can handle anything' attitude. Every time he said, "Don't worry, I can handle this!" in every difficult situation, the whole audiences in the theater laughed.
Diaz was also great in this movie. I am never a fan of Diaz because of the typical characters that she has played for years, which is the happy smiling girl, silly, ignorance, loud and a bit dumb character. For years, she has been stuck in many roles which were somehow similar to Mary in There's Something About Mary and her role in Charlie's Angels. Actually she is not a bad actress, but she has made many wrong choices of films in her career. However, she is very funny in this movie and I like her a lot. And I think, she is the perfect choice for June Havens's role, which made the theater giggled throughout the movie. I have to admit that she is great in a comedic role, if she gets the right character.
The actions were also fun. Mostly were mindless actions. So, don't put yourself too serious when watching the actions scenes, because the comedic aproach of this movie makes any kinds of actions become possible and valid. No one needs to protest when seeing Cruise jumping from one running car to another running car, or when he shoots and kills many enemies while walking openly towards them, or when he coolly walks toward Diaz to kiss her in a very critical situation, with bullets hissing around him. The most memorable scene was the stunt of Cruise and Diaz on a motorbike in a chasing scene. But the action scene that I liked the most was the fighting scene between Cruise and a half dozen men in the airplane at the early of the movie.
Cruise and Diaz, with their great personalities, sparked throughout the movie. They were the reason I watched this movie and I did not feel regret, because it was one good entertainment. (MJ)
