Knight and Day

I saw the trailer to this film and thought it would be fun. I was right.
Minor spoilers follow.






The opening scene has Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) walking through an airport, doing airporty stuff. He seems to be looking for someone and spots June Havens (Cameron Diaz) who is on her way home to Boston to attend her sister's wedding. Having seemingly found his target, he arranges to "accidentally" bump into her a couple of times, all the while flashing a charming Tom Cruise smile. She gets refused at the boarding gate and Roy cryptically tells her that sometimes things happen for a reason as he boards the plane. However, someone is watching them and arranges for her to get on board. Once on the strangely empty plane, they flirt a little and when June goes to the restroom, Roy fights and kills all the passengers and crew on board including the pilots. June is understandably freaked out when she finds all this while Roy tries to land the plane on a highway. After crash-landing, Roy drugs her and she wakes up in bed in her own apartment.

Then things start to get weird.

Federal agents show up to take June into protective custody, telling her that Roy is a CIA agent gone rogue after killing several scientists and stealing government property. Roy shows up to "rescue" her from the feds, despite her reservations. Not sure who to trust, June has no choice but to follow Roy as he tries to protect a McGuffin called 'The Zephyr' and its inventor Simon Feck (Paul Dano) who appears to be some sort of savant. Along the way, some romance predictably blossoms and June finds herself oddly enjoying their life-threatening escapades.

The plot is quite common and fairly nonsensical. This movie banks mainly on the stunts and the star power of the two leads. In that respect, they deliver. Cruise oozes charisma as the wisecracking spy who is always cheerful and nonchalant however dire the situation is. Diaz too is very effective as the reluctant heroine and is very charming as she usually is. They work well together and share a convincing chemistry. The action sequences were frenetic and fun to watch. They don't make lighthearted action movies like this much these days; most films are tinged with a bit of darkness. It probably won't be very memorable, but it's a welcome distraction.