Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are possibly the coldest on-screen Hollywood couple since Montgomery Clift and Shelley Winters, may they rest in peace. Cruise has always been a little distant, giving that looking-into-the-Sun gaze to the point that it’s become more of a glaze. What’s more, he’s embarrassed himself in the media so many times over the last few years that he’s literally become the village idiot of Tinseltown.
Cameron Diaz is just as “fridge-ed”, last starring alongside Cruise in Vanilla Sky. You can count her list of romantic comedies on one hand if you exclude movies like: There’s Something About Mary and Feeling Minnesota. She’s Hollywood’s Miss Unattainable and that’s reflected in her pay cheque as one of the most sought after actresses. Luckily, she’s got the looks and charm to melt away that Ice, Ice, Baby exterior. Strip away their looks and they’ve got nothing on the chemistry between Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner when it comes to high action-adventure and romance in Knight and Day.
Catch the rest of the review and the trailer after the jump…
What they do have is plenty of charisma, something that basically fuels this all-or-nothing espionage action-adventure. It’s seriously superficial when it comes to romance and Cruise and Diaz are more like buddies than potential lovers in this high stakes game of cat-and-mouse. Knight and Day feels a lot like Mission: Impossible meets The Italian Job as the co-leads don baseball caps and bikinis instead of night vision goggles and cat suits. Cruise’s bikini aside, the action set pieces are quite elaborate with some super hot pursuit car chases and shoot ’em up scenes.
As usual, our hero is harder to kill than Rasputin with more lives saved up than an ordinary house cat: dodging bullets, surviving airplane crashes and leaving the toilet seat UP. He’s probably the guy who Johnny Rivers was singing about when he waxed lyrical on that classic sing-along Secret Agent Man. Knight and Day is wildly entertaining if a meaningless popcorn Summer blockbuster is what you’re after. However, it doesn’t get much deeper than what you’ll experience in the movie trailer.
“If I said you have a hot bod, would you hold it against me?”
The plot is about as solid as warm liquid goo. It’s simply there to remind you Knight and Day is in fact a movie (and not a 90 minute six-minute abs infomercial) with a secret innovation causing all the mayhem. As usual, the good guy has to keep the revolutionary device out of the bad guy’s hands to avoid some form of world domination, while taking a beautiful girl under his wing to up the thrills and show a little leg.
Knight and Day is all about the bubblegum fun. Great tongue-in-cheek performances from Cruise and Diaz keep things fresh and toasty, while some serious action and foreign locations make up the filler between all the funny saw-it-in-the-trailer moments. Don’t bother bringing your brain along to this one, it’s the sort of low-key film where the only reason you’ll remember anything is that you don’t have two holes drilled in the back of your head.
Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner were funnier, warm-blooded and more enjoyable in Gleaming the Cube Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. You may find yourself reminiscing as their romantic chemistry actually made their ridiculous predicaments more believable and entertaining as they rallied for treasure and high adventure. Knight and Day makes the two literally feel like night and day when contrasted.
Although, it’s all about entertainment value at the end of the Day. While Knight and Day fails when it comes to expressing any form of depth or heart… it makes up for it with a big name cast, a couple of good laughs, loads of action, plenty of eye candy and a fresh summery feel. If you enjoyed The Italian Job remake with Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron you’ll have no problem sitting back and basking with Knight and Day.
The bottom line: Breezy.
Release Date: 23 July, 2010
Watch Knight and Day Trailer
Book Tickets at Ster-Kinekor
Book Tickets at Nu Metro
Catch more movie reviews at SPL!NG
[imagesource: Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn] A woman in Thailand, dubbed 'Am Cyanide' by Thai...
[imagesource:renemagritte.org] A René Magritte painting portraying an eerily lighted s...
[imagesource: Alison Botha] Gqeberha rape survivor Alison Botha, a beacon of resilience...
[imagesource:mcqp/facebook] Clutch your pearls for South Africa’s favourite LGBTQIA+ ce...
[imagesource:capetown.gov] The City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee has approved the...