Review: Knight and Day

Grade: A

June Havens was just trying to fly back to Boston from Wichita when she literally bumped into Roy Miller. June is then let on to an earlier flight back, much to the dismay of Roy, as the flight turns out to be mostly empty except for a couple assassins trying to kill Roy. After the plane crashes in a field, June mysteriously wakes up in her own bed back in Boston. She then discovers that there are government agents out to get her and that Roy Miller is keeping an eye on her. Roy then insists that the two stay together while he figures out what the agents want with June and he tries to complete his mysterious mission. June discovers that Roy might be a rogue spy and is having a hard time figuring out who to trust as all stories sound convincing.

I don’t know why so many people seem to have a problem seeing this movie. It was great and so much fun to watch. Many people have also been comparing it to Killers with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, well, the only similarity that Knight and Day has to Killers is that the male lead is a spy, after that they both take very different paths. To start, Knight and Day has a far better cast, as they can actually act. Tom Cruise (War of the Worlds, Top Gun) plays Roy Miller, a spy, or possibly rogue spy, just trying to complete a mission. Cruise was fantastic, as he always is, he was very funny and his action scenes were great. Cameron Diaz (The Holiday, Charlie’s Angels) plays June Haven, a classic car fanatic just trying to get home for her sister’s wedding. Diaz was great in this movie and she was very funny as well. The two really seemed to play well off each other, which isn’t too surprising as this is their second movie together. The movie also features Peter Sarsgaard, Viola Davis and a very interesting and great performance form Paul Dano.

This movie is the epitome of the summer movie. It is just plain fun to watch. The action is great and the laughs keep coming. One of the more entertaining parts of the movie, to me, was that Cameron Diaz’s character wasn’t coping well with all that was happening, so Roy drugged her and she blacked out, then she keeps semi-regaining consciousness and the audience gets these glimpses of crazy things going on then she blacks out again then wakes up when everything is ok hours later. This happens like two or three times. I was laughing so hard at these sequences because even though it seems like we’re missing great action sequences it’s just so amusing and it helps the story move along. I will admit, however, that the ending is a little cheesy and predictable but whatever, it was still a lot of fun and the cheesyness of the ending ads to the overall charm of the movie.

This movie is everything a summer movie should be. I recommend everybody head to the theater and check this one out. Is it an academy award winning movie? No. Is it just plain and simple fun summer escapism? Absolutely. Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are great together in this movie that is loaded with action and laughter and romance. I loved this movie and will definitely be seeing it again.

Great quote: “June, I can dismantle a bomb while blindfolded with nothing but a paperclip and a junior mint, so I think I could change your clothes without looking… I’m not saying that’s what happened, but I could.”