Knight and Day

Returning to the spy genre after his standout and award nominated supporting performance in 2008’s “Tropic Thunder” Tom Cruise brings audiences his most enjoyable feature in years “Knight and Day.” Co-starring Cameron Diaz “Knight and Day,” follows Julie Havens (Cameron Diaz), a vintage car restoration specialist who leads an everyday normal existence absent of excitement and/or love. All this however becomes something of the past after she inadvertently becomes acquainted with a covert secret agent named Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) who is on the run from the government. In his possession Roy beholds a top-secret resource that could be the key to infinite power, but in the wrong hands it could prove more hazardous. Globetrotting from destination to destination and dodging assassins left and right, Julie and Roy find themselves on an adventure neither of them ever expected including falling in love with one another.

Directed by James Mangold, the acclaimed filmmaker behind “Walk the Line” and “3:10 to Yuma,” is and always has been great with making films that are crowd pleasers and “Knight and Day” is no different. There are filmmakers who make films to appease audiences and then there are filmmakers who make films that appease critics/film enthusiasts, and [James] Mangold unlike many makes films that appease to both. His directing efforts coalesce film school tactics with mainstream filmmaking advances that in the end work to a great degree. Further complimented by the acting involvement of Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz “Knight and Day” scores great commendation but, there is much more here than just star power and that’s genuine thrills which are an unofficial trademark of Tom Cruise action vehicles.

Similar to Tom Cruise’s highly-successful “Mission Impossible” films, “Knight and Day” is filled with high raising action and excitement and stunts (performed by Tom Cruise” which make the film greatly rewarding from a entertainment standpoint. That moment in the film that finds Tom Cruise riding atop of a runaway car while dodging bullets left and right is exciting and shows the great magnitude of what Tom Cruise will do to satisfy his fans, audiences and critics alike. Simultaneously, Tom Cruise is able to satisfy audiences, particularly female audiences, with a film heavy on romantic charm which is considerably benefited by the involvement of Cameron Diaz, who of course is known for his romantic comedy features. Their on screen union is fantastic and the two have great chemistry but, this of course isn’t anything new seeing both [Tom] Cruise and [Cameron] Diaz co-starred with one another in 1999’s mind bending drama “Vanilla Sky.”

Comprehensively exhilarating and gratifying from the standpoint of the film’s original approach “Knight and Day” makes for one solid action-adventure that is certifiably one of Tom Cruises and Cameron Diaz’s career best. Even though I can admit I was hoping for more in the area of the films character development, particularly those characters played by supporting actors Peter Sarsgaard and Paul Dano, “Knight an Day” is great time from beginning to finish and one that personifies that indispensable quality of what makes a great summer movie…that being non-stop thrills.