Australian Penthouse

Knight And Day

Director: James Mangold
Stars: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Saarsgard

DIRECTOR James Mangold has taken the zest and sass of a 1950s Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie and paired it with the high-octane thrills of a modern day action movie for Knight and Day, rescuing the film from the bucket of saccharine-laden relationship pap that clogs our cinemas.

Patrick O’Neill’s witty script focuses on keeping the obvious attraction between the two leads realistically suppressed—just like in the real world, where tact, ego and the to-and-fro of the male-female dynamic creates sparks. And he does a great job.

Similarly, Tom Cruise is very enjoyable as the titular super-spy Roy Knight—part Cary Grant, part Jason Bourne. Cruise moves through the demanding (and impressive) action scenes with total confidence and not even the occasional awkwardness between himself and onscreen love interest Diaz can’t be (mostly) smoothed over with his roguish charm or via dazzling fight scenes.

Diaz is the Doris Day to Cruise’s Grant: part ditz, part self-assured woman in charge; but, disappointingly single faceted and low-lit against the mega-watt Cruise, who deserved a better partner to romance in an albeit light and fluffy female role.

The plot is thus: June Havens (Diaz) rebuilds classic cars and is on her way to visit her sister In Boston for her wedding. At the airport, June’s path crosses that of secret agent, Roy Knight (Cruise), who is on the run after a failed mission. Once June is dragged into Roy’s plans, he realises that her involvement—no matter how accidental—will most likely get her killed, so he is forced to monitor her actions from afar in an effort to keep her safe.

Monitoring her actions at times uncomfortably resembles a Crime Channel date rape recreation where Roy almost constantly drugs June with  Rohypnol-like substance and increasingly creepy sexual overtones (such as changing her clothes for a bikini while she’s passed out) with “hilarious” repercussions.

However, as slightly creepy as this is, the regular drugging mirrors June’s increasing bubble-headedness, which grows incrementally concomitant to her unconscious states. Coincidence or heavy-handed plot-point coping mechanism?

Anyway, back to the plot: Roy is pursued by his former partner, Fitzgerald (Peter Saarsgard, in a very Keifer-Sutherland-in-24 turn) and his former agency, both believing that Roy tried to kill an asset that he and Fitzgerald were tasked to protect, and both on the hunt for the zephyr, a new form of perpetual energy created by bookish wunderkind kid, Simon Feck (Paul Dano), that is stored in a capsule the size of a vehicle cigarette lighter.

Whoever owns the technology will change the power structure of the world, and so Roy’s fight to keep both June and Simon alive forms the crux of the film as the trio jet, drive and boat across the globe, pursued by the American government and unnamed drug cartels, represented by the dead-eyed Antonio (Jordi Molla, channelling a delightfully crazy Latino Fisher Stevens).

In between the elaborate car chases, helicopter attacks, exploding buildings, and rapid gunfire lies the kind of witty banter not heard nearly enough in modern Hollywood movies, and in this case the combination of ADHD action with old-style cinema dialogue rescues Knight And Day from being just another churn-and-burn rom-com.

Knight And Day is released in cinemas nationally on July 15