The last time Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz were in a film together, back when they were still considered A-List celebrities and bankable film stars, they were in VANILLA SKY. That film was a polarizing affair both on and off screen, shaking the two actors' images and proved to be a turning point for them and the director Cameron Crowe. Tom Cruise wanted to oddly rekindle his youth days with his dating scene and proving himself in the acting department, despite being a very capable actor as this point. Cameron Diaz gave a great performance, but then spent her continuing career pandering to popcorn entertainment and glossy melodramas.
Though they both have had their share of box office success in other films in the past years, KNIGHT AND DAY is the new litmus test for both of their images and capabilities. Unfortunately, the test proved to be red, as the acidic content and general smugness ruin any chance of excitement and adventure. It is a shiny concealer, trying to prove that the two aging movie stars are still invincible from criticism.
From the beginning to the end, it is nothing but Diaz and Cruise in every frame. Even when you get a scene without them, the other characters have to talk about them and how bold they are. That's how shallow this film is; The movie forces you to try to cheer for this rambunctious couple simply for their outer beauty in looks and action prowess. KNIGHT AND DAY is a rag-magazine of the adventure comedy flicks but with no stingers from the proletariaat.
The film starts instantly with Cruise and Diaz enacting the meet-cute scenario, except they do it more than what's allowed in these films. Diaz plays as June, supposedly a woman who restores cars but that is just so unbelievable that even the director barely plays it up. Tom Cruise is Roy Miller, a secret agent currently on the run with a Macguffin, who purposely entangles June in his proceedings and later blames her for not getting his early messages to stay away. The two "comically" survive an assassination attempt and an emergency plane landing before Roy drugs her out. She wakes up later, gets further in trouble with more people after her, receives a deus ex machina from Cruise, and then drugged out again and repeated all over and often. Seriously, June is knocked out repeatedly and this is suppose to be funny. I surprised we didn't get a hilarious scene where June is diagnosed with a mental disease.
The plot never goes into new territory, nor does it succeed with a tongue-in-cheek look at fugitive films. It just jumps constantly to a new location and scenario after every blackout of June. Jame Mangold's direction may want to present the film as an exercise of absurdism, but it is strictly deus ex machina after deus ex machina. You never even feel the thought of suspense, as the main couple walks through every scene with a stupid grin on their faces.
Now, let's talk about the main attraction, the two actors I spent an opening paragraph on. Cameron Diaz relies only on two emotions: high-strung shrieking and flat emotion. Considering June is supposed to be a car restorer, which never gets old to laugh at, you would think that Diaz would play her as a rough tomboy who's social skills may be bad but has an expertise with handling danger. None of that comes across as Diaz just phones her lines in and has her indestructible purse and her dirty boots do the real action. I am blaming her for her work but June isn't a perfect character in the writing form. Her character is unlikable and beyond ineptitude, as she constantly gets herself in danger due to her actions. Despite being shot at and almost has her pretty face smothered in hot oil, she continues to forcibly enact the next action scene with her stupidity. Maybe if someone didn't drug her all the time and put her in a bikini against her will, she wouldn't be an airhead.
Then, there's Tom Cruise. I just never believed him as Roy Miller, as I only saw Cruise up there. The macho bravado, the smug smile, the invulnerability. Cruise is the phantom puppeteer of the proceedings as no harm is given to his character's physical body nor is there any bad traits. The sheer egotism and perfectionism is just too overbearing. There are some big plot holes that do debunk this myth of Roy Miller; Despite knowing that everyone is looking for them, he doesn't remove the GPS chip in June's phone. But those slight errors can't combat the unbelievability of Roy's impenetrability in one scene where he literate walks slowly in the middle of an open area gunfight to give an unromantic kiss to Diaz.
Because all of the attention is on Diaz and Cruise, none of the supporting cast get any development beyond generic tropes. Both Peter Sarsgaard and Viola Davis look positively bored in their roles and Paul Dano looks visably aloof and embarrassed at his character's direction despite being the person who invents the MacGuffin.
There is nothing to fall back on or to enjoy to give KNIGHT AND DAY a mild response. All of the action scenes are heavily CG-ed and the locations look trivial and unremarkable. The film is simply a hyped-up write-off for Hollywood. There is no enjoyment or laughter, just two movie stars laughing at your misfortune at sitting through this tedium.
FINAL REVIEW: 1 / 5
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