Knight and Day **** (2010, Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard) – Classic Movie Review 803

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz go all out for action in this most preposterous of comedy thrillers that makes the impossible plot of Mission: Impossible look, well, possible.

Idiotic though director James Mangold’s 2010 movie Knight and Day may be, though, it’s also surprisingly entertaining. It’s much, much better than The A-Team or Killers, simply because all the nonsense is done with such conviction, relish and even style.

Taking screenwriter Patrick O’Neill’s story seriously and getting him to back it up with amusing dialogue pays off. Cruise and Diaz prove an unlikely but successful team as Roy Miller, a Jason Bourne-style hitman, and June Havens, the gorgeous dame in peril he rescues, and rescues, and rescues, and then takes along for the globe-hopping ride.

It’s one of those unusual movies that builds and improves as it goes along, getting faster, furious-er and frantic-er – and more fun – as stunts, explosions and chases pile higher and higher. Yes, it’s all totally ridiculous, but there is a place for this kind of engaging escapist nonsense when it’s done well like this.

A bit of a pint-sized hero, Cruise puts everything he’s got into it, though the effort does show. Does he really need to take his shirt off to show off his endless-hours-in-the-gym body? Diaz is a class act. And when she’s stops screaming and goes into action herself, she’s a bit of a wonder to behold.

They don’t have a lot of chemistry – actually none sexually – but there’s enough to hold the show together. And they’re posh enough actors to put some conviction in some of the tricky dialogue they’ve got to negotiate.

Alas, there’s plenty of CGI enhancement in the action, but it doesn’t swamp things like it does in The A-Team movie.

(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 803 derekwinnert.com