Knight and Day – 3*

Tom Cruise is not bowing out of the action just yet, it seems, and appears to have used this latest project as a Mission Impossible IV (2011) warm up with an attractive co-star in tow in Cameron Diaz. If nothing else, Knight and Day proves that the Cruise and Diaz chemistry still works with his self-assured screen confidence complimenting her ditzy bubbliness in a film filled with more satisfyingly real stunts and action sequences than a lot of the CGI-prone offerings of recent months.

Apart from a couple of annoyingly lazy ‘unconscious’ moments that conveniently let the film-makers off visually moving the story forward, and spoil a half-decent finale, this is a rather daft but enjoyable popcorn movie – just don’t expect to delve too deeply because there is very little below the surface, unlike the stars’ previous union in the trippy and multi-layered 2001 drama, Vanilla Sky. What you see is all of what you get in the current flick. Take this rather incoherent story for its high-octane chases and its attractive leads, and you will be satisfyingly entertained. Naturally, this all depends on whether Cruise and/or Diaz appeals, too, but no one watching can deny Cruise’s unfaltering determination to make all his characters 100% likeable, even if they are in the wrong, and the power of Diaz’s winning smile. Basically, the stars do what they do best and exactly what we come to expect, without breaking a sweat – Cruise leaping around and Diaz causing chaos.

Although this could be classed as an ‘action rom-com’, there is less emphasis on the romance – whether intentional or not. Diaz and Cruise are more like two life-long buddies who awkwardly get entangled and share a first kiss, than a passionate pairing sizzling on screen. The comedy, too, is less than effortless in places with a lot of laughs stemming from Diaz’s trademark scattiness that she plays on again in this role, but she still manages to charm all in the process.

Plausibility is absent in this caper, right from the start with the plane crash. But what Knight and Day lacks in this respect, it more than makes up in portraying the daydream of getting involved in the more dangerous and covert world of espionage and government corruption. Coupled with some exotic locations – and rooftop chase sequences that just smack of Bourne (unfortunately), even though Ethan Hunt was there first in 1996, this is one ride of events that will drift in and out of your conscience after watching. It’s a ‘here and now’ movie to enjoy in the moment because it oozes fun and absurdity in equal measure.

3/5 stars

By L G-K