KNIGHT & DAY

Knight & Day sees Tom cruise return to his action star roots, not a Nazi in sight, dragging the impossibly gorgeous Cameron Diaz along for the ride. This time car restorer June Havens (Cameron Diaz) finds herself thrown into the world of high stakes danger and international espionage when she bumps into rogue FBI agent Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) during a supposedly routine domestic flight home. Only problem is the flight is filled with agents out to kill Roy. Roy saves himself and June, and afterwards June tries to go back to her normal life – however she is now a target – and Roy sees it as his duty to protect her as he globe trots his way to clear his name.

Knight & Day is a by the numbers action movie and while Diaz and Cruise have great onscreen chemistry it fails to fire here, a result of a script lacking in much logic or wit. A tacked on subplot about Roy’s family never fully develops and left me thinking that the whole thing is a wasted opportunity. Sure on the surface it looks pretty, and with a host of European locals that is inevitable, but dig a little deeper and you discover it has no substance.

Tom Cruise is very likeable as Roy, shaking of the couch jumping mania of his past - something he began with his turn in Tropic Thunder. Cruise handles humour and action in equal measure and really proves he has the chops as a big screen action hero – steer clear of dramatic vanity projects! Diaz is underused as the buttoned down June, spending most of the movie shrieking – what happened to the cool calm and collected Charlie’s Angel?

Knight & Day is only the latest in a slew of action romantic comedies (Mr & Mrs Smith, Killers and The Bounty Hunter – UGH!) that drop impossibly good looking actors into high octane situations so that laughs, and love, will hopefully lead to big box office bucks and while it doesn’t quite work it is fun, and I guess you can’t expect anything more than that – but when you have two of Hollywood’s biggest stars shouldn’t we expect more?

2.5 of 5 Stars