Thaindian News

Knight and Day: Is rollicking fun

Rating: 3 out of 5*

Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Paul Dano and Peter Sarsgaard

Director: James Mangold

July 9, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Returning to his full-throttle movie star mode for the first time since 2006 release Mission Impossible 3, Tom Cruise reclaims some serious star power as the driving force behind this stylish, globe hopping, action-packed comedy.

With Cruise as a covert agent and Cameron Diaz as the girl who unwittingly becomes a pawn in his high-stakes, face-off with the bad guys. For the audiences looking for pure escapism with an irresistible action comedy, Knight and Day is a sheer treat.

The opening sequences in the Wichita Airport get the film off to a crackerjack start. A rogue secret agent, Roy Miller (Cruise) bumps into car enthusiast June Havens (Diaz). After Roy does away with the other baddie passengers and pilots and crash-lands their aircraft in a cornfield, June soon finds herself caught up in his ever-widening world of danger and espionage. This sets off a series of events that finds Roy putting June on a whirlwind worldwide excursion where they are chased from deserted islands to snow-capped Austria to the running of the bulls in Spain. As the story unfolds we find numerous shady characters, as well as the CIA, following Roy, and all are seeking a valuable battery designed by geeky inventor Simon (Paul Dano).

What truly elevates this material is a wonderfully loopy and appealing performance from Cruise, who hasn’t been this loose and comfortable on screen in a long time. This will definitely make the T.C. fans happy to see him back in action. Diaz is equally winning, never descending into dumb blonde territory and keeping her emotions in check even as her world comes crumbling down around her. As a CIA honcho Viola Davis (Doubt) carries the right amount of gravitas, while Peter Sarsgaard also makes all the right moves as an agent seeking Roy. As the nerdy Simon, Dano doesn’t have a whole lot to do but he’s fun to have around.

Thanks to James Mangold’s expert direction, the pace never lags and lives up to post-Bourne audience expectations for this sort of frothy thriller, even if it all gets a little too frenetic at times. Mangold clearly got the best of his stars in the midst of complete chaos and pulls off numerous action set pieces with great skill.

Watch it for the non-stop fun on the run, which it guarantees.

– Abhijit Mhamunkar/Sampurn Wire