It's Just Movies

— by ADAM POYNTER —

Summer must be here, because it’s all spies, car chases and adventure. Roaring back to the screen in the new action comedy “Knight and Day” is director James Mangold — who has co-written and directed films such as “3:10 to Yuma,” “Walk the Line,” “Identity” and “Girl, Interrupted.” Boasting huge names like Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, plus Peter Sarsgaard, Viola Davis and many more, “Knight and Day” is sure to be a trip like no other.

“Knight and Day” follows the story of the average girl who gets caught up in an espionage mix-up and who teams up with a very quirky and on-the-run government agent. June Havens (Cameron Diaz) is on her way home from Wichita and keeps running into Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) at the airport. She is told she has been moved to a later flight, but Agent Fitzgerald (Peter Sarsgaard) thinks she has been working with Miller and puts her back on the ill-fated flight. Once on the flight, June starts to flirt with Roy and has a few drinks. While June is freshening up in the bathroom, all of the remaining passengers start to attack Miller with brute force. He defeats them all, but in the process accidentally dispatches both of the pilots. He tries to tell June what happened, but she thinks that he is joking around and it takes a few minutes for her to figure out it’s all true. Now Roy and June have to land the plan immediately somewhere inconspicuous before they reach their destination.

After a crash landing, Miller explains to June that if people come looking for him and if they use certain code words, that they are planning on keeping her captive or even killing her. June then wakes up in her own bed, unaware it all wasn’t a dream. She goes about her life, but soon realizes she is involved in something much larger then she comprehends.

Without going into any more of the story, I just want to say “Welcome back, Tom Cruise. It’s good to see the old non-crazy, action hero version of you again.” Cruise and Diaz are the new “Odd Couple” that just take over the screen from beginning to end. At first glance, it might not have seemed this dynamic duo would work out, but after seeing the movie, I can firmly say this movie works.

There are a few subplots in this movie that never really come to fruition or don’t have any real outcome on the overall story (June’s sister getting married, June has some sort of romance with a fireman, etc.) and there were a few parts that to me were completely unbelievable, but overall the story is intriguing, has lots of funny parts and a few surprises up its sleeve too. This film transports you from one exotic location to the next, all of which enhances the look and feel of the film even more. The action is stupendous and most of the amazing stunts are actually performed by Tom Cruise himself, which is just a plus.

This is a fun summer blockbuster. Have we seen the likes of it before? Well maybe in “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie or the recent “Killers” with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, but this film somehow feels different. It definitely succeeds where “Killers” crashed and burned; the basic relationship between the main characters is funny, believable and makes you want to see more.

“Knight and Day” delivers on good action and great comedy and Cruise and Diaz remind us why they have been box-office gold for years before and years to come.

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Follow Adam Poynter on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CCWGGuy.