I’ll admit up front that when I first put this movie in I was expecting another movie where Cameron Diaz played a ditzy, hopeless klutz who giggled non-stop and ended up with the good guy by film’s end. I was only partly right and thankfully the good part. KNIGHT AND DAY worth watching.
Diaz stars as June Havens, a young woman on her way home after picking up some car parts she was after to restore a GTO. At the airport, she is accidentally bumped into by a stranger we later find is named Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) not once but twice. As we all know from the way he behaves (and from seeing the film’s trailer umpteen times), Roy is a spy on a mission. When June is bumped from her plane, Roy says that might be a good thing.
But the group that is tracking down Roy decides otherwise and makes sure June gets on the plane, thinking perhaps there is a tie between the two. They converse a bit on the plane but when June decides to visit the powder room, the other passengers all attack Roy. It seems that all of them, including the pilot, are part of a group trying to take down Roy and retrieve something he has.
When June returns she doesn’t notice everyone else slumped in their seats, but Roy lets her know that they’re all dead, including the pilot. Roy has also slipped something in her drink that makes her drowsy. Before she passes out, Roy tells her to remember to tell no one they met and that should anyone approach her and tell her they’re taking her somewhere “safe” or “secure” it means she will most likely disappear off the face of the earth. And then he lands the plane safely, thought somewhat mangled, in a corn field.
When June wakes the next day, she’s home in her bed with notes from Roy reminding her to say she knows nothing. Will she do what he says? Of course not, this is a movie! Rather than keep quiet, she calls old flame Rodney and they meet to discuss what happened at a nearby diner. While eating who should show up but Roy who then whisks June away as a hostage, wounding Rodney in the process and rescuing her from would be captors.
The movie pretty much continues this way with Roy coming to June’s rescue each time she disregards what he tells her. Eventually the two pair up and work together even though June has no training at all in the world of espionage. Roy comes around and lets her know that he was assigned to protect a young genius named Simon (Paul Dano) who may have found the perfect fuel cell, as big as a battery and as powerful as the sun. The problems began when his partner Fitzgerald (Peter Sarsgaard) turned traitor and framed Roy as one. Now he’s doing his best to protect Simon, catch the bad guys who want the battery and rescue June all at the same time while he tries to clear his name.
The chemistry between Diaz and Cruise is there but not played upon near as much as the explosions and gunplay seen throughout the film. But even those scenes are cut short at times when June is rendered unconscious time and time again. Perhaps not enough to make it a downfall of the film, but it can be annoying at times. It always seems to be used when they make a change of locale going from the U.S. to the Alps and on to Spain.
Action fans will have plenty to walk away happy with here as both leads do a number of their own stunts adding a touch of reality to the mix. Car chases, gun battles, hand to hand combat and more are all on display most of the time here, mixed in with a small touch of comedy. As I said at the start, I was worried there’d be more than enough of this but they actually keep it to a minimum. Rather than play off of Diaz’ normal ditzy girl they instead provide Cruise with most of the humor as he deftly snaps one liners left and right in the middle of the action scenes.
When released, the film didn’t do the phenomenal business expected with the two stars and that’s sad because it truly does offer a good time. It won’t become a cure for illness, it won’t solve the world’s major problems in 109 minutes, but it will put a smile on your face as the action never stops and the romance blooms during the most dangerous of situations.
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