Review: Knight and Day is the Oprah Couch-Jumping Thing All Over Again

Title: Knight and Day
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: James Mangold
Actors: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Dano, Viola Davis

“Escapism” is a word you hear a lot of when people describe many of the movies released recently. The A-Team, Killers, Prince of Persia, they’ve all had the word attached to them and they’ve all been…well…crappy. But “crappy” isn’t how you’ll hear these films depicted by many. No, no, my friend. You’ll hear things like, “oh that movie wasn’t terrible, it was just fun escapism”, usually followed with, “you’re not supposed to think about it too hard.”

Movies are supposed to be escapist, of course, in that they are meant to transport you away from your reality and into another place and time, with characters you empathize with or villains you despise, in situations that probably look nothing like your daily 9 to 5. But when did calling a film “escapist” give it license to bad acting, poor writing, and the ability to pass off complete nonsense as fun? Try not to think about it too hard.

Which brings us to Knight and Day. In a summer of mindless escapism, Knight and Day is no more or less than any of its peers. Tom Cruise is back, trying to convince everyone that he’s no longer crazy, and Cameron Diaz is along for the ride because starring in bad movies is what she does. Using the general True Lies/Mr. and Mrs. Smith/Killers formula, the plot follows Diaz portraying a Jane Everywoman character who gets swept up in a random adventure with possible superspy/possible super villain, Roy Miller. He kills people, she screams a lot, we’re supposed to laugh, the movie ends.

To Knight and Day’s credit, the pacing is kept fairly brisk, which gives it a decent sense of action and urgency. Cruise is fairly likeable as the always smooth and in control, Miller, and Diaz doesn’t manage to grate on every one of your nerves, which is a welcome change. In fact, for the first chunk of the film, it almost seems like a movie that could be thrown in the “better than you thought it’d be” pile (to keep the Karate Kid remake company, I suppose). But by the midway point, it becomes painfully obvious that the movie can’t muster enough charm and won’t be deviating from textbook clichés at any point. Everything goes by the numbers and ludicrous action sequences follow one after another until you’re mercifully finished.

Like the bulk of recent summer releases, Knight and Day doesn’t attempt to be a “substance” movie, and instead, offers up light silliness you don’t have to concentrate on too hard to sit through. The thing is, filmmakers don’t have to make this false choice between making films fun and making them smart, and until they give audiences a little more credit, we can expect more middle of the road nonsense like this.