KNIGHT AND DAY
by Michael B. Druxman on 12/08/10
December 9, 2010
Last night, wife Sandy and I watched KNIGHT AND DAY.
Frankly, I didn't think I was going to like it, but the truth is that I enjoyed it much more than INCEPTION.
Here's my take on it:
A super spy (Tom Cruise), framed by a fellow agent (Peter Sarsgaard) and thus on the lam from his own people and some major bad guys, encounters an unknowing young lady (Cameron Diaz), who accidentally becomes embroiled in the whole unsavory affair. Love, of course, blossoms, as the pair travels the globe, dodging dozens of assassins, while they try to make matters right.
As a romantic action/comedy, KNIGHT AND DAY is totally unbelievable (even silly) and overlong. It is also very entertaining.
Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz make a very charming, likable couple, quite adept at playing this kind of farce.
Though its final half hour seems anti-climatic, the witty, albeit improbable, script by Patrick O'Neill moves along at a lively pace, not giving the audience much time to ponder its illogic.
In fact, O'Neill uses a clever device to partially accomplish this task. At various points in the movie, one character or the other get drugged, waking up in a totally different, sometimes exotic, locale. Since that character's point-of-view is also the audience's, there is really no need to show or even explain how they got there.
Director James Mangold has delivered a handsome movie, filmed in many countries (e.g. Austria, Spain, the USA, etc.), but like many directors who work with action sequences enhanced with CGI, he allows technique to trump storytelling and these scenes run on far too long.
Nevertheless, if you're willing to put your thinking cap aside for a while, KNIGHT AND DAY can provide a very enjoyable two hours.
You have a creative day.
Michael
