Knight and Day | Review
‘Knight and Day’ deserves a lot more credit than it has right now. Not that many people have seen the film, and even though it’s made more than $100 million, it’s still considered a “bomb” or a “flop.” Many people have claimed that Tom Cruise isn’t as great of a movie star as he was years ago, and that may have attributed to the film’s failure. However, from seeing this film, I don’t understand any of the complaints! This is actually, surprisingly, my first Tom Cruise movie. From what I can tell, Tom Cruise is a wonderful actor, and he’s really good playing the part of Roy in ‘Knight and Day.’
‘Knight and Day’ has wonderful leads – Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The two to of them have chemistry and it’s fun seeing them together on screen. Both characters are humorous in their own unique ways. Cameron Diaz’s character, June, is fun because she doesn’t understand what’s going on, which we, the audience, can related to. And Cruise’s Roy is funny because of the way he acts. Roy has many random and comedic appearances due to so many of June’s escapes from him. Whenever Roy somehow tracks down June and appears on screen, it’s funny (like the car chase and the restaurant scenes).
The dialogue spoken in ‘Knight and Day’ are also humorous. Roy has many one-liners that are just laugh-out-loud funny! For example, when he was pretending to take June as a hostage in the restaurant scene, he told everyone not to move “…or I kill myself, and then her.” Roy’s prediction that June’s ex-boyfriend would get a promotion for getting shot in the leg was also funny, and also when Roy was just saying “Pies for everyone” multiple times. Cruise’s character really is an enjoyable one, and Cruise does an awesome job at portraying him.
There were many intellectual scenes in ‘Knight and Day’ that I really liked. For example, the scene where June falls asleep in the car, and Roy, who appears to be driving, also goes to sleep, you wonder, “What the eff? He’s driving and going to sleep!?” When the camera pans out to show you what really is happening, you realize how that’s possible. It’s a small, but clever scene that I really liked. And also the secret code on the wall that Roy discovers is pretty smart.
‘Knight and Day’ surprisingly has many comedic and enjoyable moments. Like how Roy continuously drugs June, and his explanation as to how June got into a bikini when she woke up! It’s hilarious. And the sleep montages were fun. The ‘Guy-who-wouldn’t-die’ was also funny.
I love how creative the movie truly is. I love how smartly written it is. The director did a fantastic job, which is expected, since he did direct some movies in the past with really good reviews, too (3:10 to Yuma and Walk the Line). I love how the direction that the film takes, and how we never know what to believe (which is expected in a film involving secret agents and whatnot). Like, we believe whatever June believes, because we only know what she knows. When Roy tells her he’s on the good side, June believes him, and we believe him. When certain situations make Roy appear like he’s on the bad side, June believes it, and we believe it.
Now, what did I not like in ‘Knight and Day’? The biggest problem I had with the film was its conclusion. In its final act, when we finally know who the true antagonist of ‘Knight and Day’ is, what happens to the true antagonist was just too anticlimactic. I really just went “Wtf!??!?!?!” I didn’t like it. The ending of the film was fine to me, but the conclusion to the antagonist was just too ‘meh.’ Also, do “truth serums” also force you to talk? Hmmm…
Another problem I had with the film was the same problem I had with the film ‘Taken’, starring Liam Neeson. Neeson’s character in ‘Taken’ and Cruise’s character in ‘Knight and Day’ were, to me, too good at their jobs. Whenever their characters were in extreme danger, there’s no real sense of actual danger to them. Their characters are just so damn good at avoiding gun shots and knowing exactly what to do that it just makes the film less engaging.
I think the marketing team behind ‘Knight and Day’ were really smart. All of the trailers and commercials for the film told you absolutely nothing important about it. They didn’t reveal any spoilers or anything about why Cruise’s character is doing what he’s doing. To me, the kind of marketing that ‘Knight and Day’ had was great, because it showed the action side to the film, as well as the humorous and fun sides, which is all that’s really needed to draw in audiences. It’s depressing that not many people have seen the film, though.
‘Knight and Day’ is, sadly, a very underrated film, and deserves so much more credit. The film is totally unrealistic, and it’s meant to be that way. It has unrealistic characters and unrealistic dialogue! But the fact that the film was made that way made it fun and enjoyable. ‘Knight and Day’ is purely an action-comedy film that’s meant to entertain. ‘Knight and Day’ isn’t the type of film that should win any awards, and it isn’t the best film out there, but it’s a really good one; it certainly deserves more than ‘The Last Airbender’, which, for some reason, is actually making a lot of money. With ‘The Last Airbender’, you’re paying a film to make you suffer. With ‘Knight and Day’, you get your money’s worth – you’re paying for a purely entertaining film.
