Knight and Day

I write this review a few days after seeing Knight and Day. Action-adventure is one of my favorite genres, so I was really excited to check this one out.

I already know it has become a flop and according to Wikipedia is the “worse [box office] result for an action film starring Tom Cruise in 20 years.” Well, I loved Knight and Day and can’t really put my finger on why it flopped. It was a light, fluffy action-film, with two A-list stars, with one of the great, active directors.

So who fucked up?

Well, let’s start with he story. The story is stupid and needs to be. Tom Cruise’s character, Roy Miller, and Cameron Diaz’s character, June Havens’, meet in an airport and ultimately experience a plane crash after Roy’s attempted assassination. Roy is a secret agent. Roy is after something. June gets involved. What is the something? Doesn’t matter. The story is about the romance and action, everything else is out of focus.

It is the ultimate Mcguffin. Google defines a Mcguffin as, “coined by Alfred Hitchcock, is a plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but is otherwise unimportant.” Perfect definition. Think of the suitcase in Pulp Fiction or the stolen money in Psycho.

So we got a great popcorn set-up. What’s next: The flirtations between A-list performers Diaz and Cruise. They are great. They’re both beautiful people, in beautiful locations.

Hmm… maybe it was the director James Mangold? Nope. He’s a genius. This movie is beautiful, especially for an action film. The action takes place in front of the camera and the editing is totally reasonable. Bayhem editing is no where to be seen. Mangold is real talent. His 3:10 to Yuma is one of the better action films of the past five years.

Ugh. What then?! The special effects? They look sexy. A little too computer generated at moments, which is fine, but often the actors don’t look like they share the same space and time with the effects. But they work. Effects aren’t supposed to look real, they’re supposed to be sexy. They brought the sexy.

Hmm…marketing? Nope, I watched Diaz and Cruise do a live action stunt on TV to promote the film. Cool.

So what I break it down to is one of two things: Either Cruise and Diaz aren’t A-listers, which I accepted as a necessary truth, or producers can no longer release a huge blockbuster without a pre-existing audience.

I’m admittedly confused about this, because technically being an A-list actor means you already have a pre-existing audience. Kind of. But if this were true, Avatar wouldn’t go on to be a billion dollar film. Perhaps the genre had a pre-existing audience? Science-fiction does well these days and I imagine Inception will be a top twenty highest grossing film as well. (Another original work)

I guess what I take away from this “review” is that I sympathize deeply with the often vilified studio executive. Many of which get fired for flops like Knight and Day. When it is largely no fault of their own. Audiences complain that Hollywood doesn’t take chances, but in many ways I don’t blame them. This movie seemed like a guaranteed winner at the box office, it was not taking a chance, but flopped.

With Twilight and The Last Airbender coming out this week Knight stands little chance of regaining its footing at the box office. Maybe Cruise is considered too crazy and Diaz’s face too wrinkly. They have the combined age of 84. That is kinda’ old to be sexy.

Release Date: June 2010

Collin Says: B

You’ll Say: B+