The Agent Who Drugged Me...

Frankly, I have lost appetite with Tom Cruise’s movies recently. His last decent movie as far as I could recall was probably The Last Samurai, plus he made a pretty good cameo on ‘Tropic Thunder’. We all may blame his antics on Oprah, Sciencetology, or teenage love story with Katie. I didn't even catch Valkyrie at all. But there is something with Knight and Day which makes me interested. I think this is a perfect movie where Tom Cruise plays as...Tom Cruise himself. Actually, when the trailer was premiered last year before Avatar, I didn't get the idea, what the hell is this movie? A Super Secret Agent running around with Cameron Diaz, chased by bad guys? Not to bright, huh?

Overall, the movie is a total nonsense, over the top, and ridiculously fun in some parts. In a way, this popcorn flick delivers something fresh, out of the line action scenes, and no one gets hurt badly (thanks PG-13). I didn’t even see Cruise get scratched or wounded (at least until the end) most of the time. Yeah, he still has that ‘look’ and ‘charismatic’, I guess it’s better for him to use and explore it while it lasts. I really enjoyed the opening 30 minutes, the scenes were changing rapidly, from one spot to another spot, and bang bang bang everywhere. Afterwards, the movie was just going downward, it became too repetitive, and the only thing differs is the locations (we see airplane, tropical island, Switzerland, Spain, etc). As far as the story goes, the audience will be assured that no matter what happens, Cruise and Diaz won’t get into too much trouble.

The plus point of Knight and Day is the perfect chemistry of the main duo. I kinda enjoy how Roy Miller and June Havens start building their relationship on screen, right from the flirting moments at the airport, they fight among themselves, and right into the end when Diaz' character suddenly steals the show. Remember Mr. & Mrs. Smith? Just like that, but without 'Brangelina' hype. They prove to be a much better pair than Heigl – Kutcher on The Killers. Diaz still has her and sweet cute attitude. If only this movie is made 5 years ago, damn she must be a one damn hottie. Although I don’t buy the ending, the chemistry becomes a bit awkward and Diaz’ transformation is just ludicrous and bizarre.

Thanks to the domination from the main stars, the rest is just like puppets, even the villain, Fitzgerald (Peter Sarsgaard), looks like a douche, one of the lamest bad guy in 2010, making him on board with Jason Patric (The Losers) and Patrick Wilson (A-Team). He doesn’t look intimidating, the threat is so weak and dumb, and most of all, he doesn’t have that ‘bad guy’ face at all. Paul Dano plays very few screen as the inventor Simon Peck, who creates the mini super battery that can run a small city, which happens to be the center of all problems. It's a shame since I thought he will add the colors of the whole cast, he's pretty much underused and ignored (man, he's brilliant in Little Miss Sunshine and There Will Be Blood).

This may not the best Tom Cruise movie after all, and frankly, I’m still surprised he wants to jump into the wagon for this one. But, only Tom Cruise who can still add the flavor and additional gimmicks to this kind of flick. He can shoot, jump, play lasso to grab person by person, go from A to B in 18 hours, acting ridiculously, and still...audience will not blast him, we may even like him more. That's the power of Cruise. From technical aspect, the action scenes were unreasonably and ridiculously thrilling. Most of the jokes work well (I like the ‘with me, without me, with me, without me’), and Diaz can be really cute in some scenes (she can also play dumb, though). Again, just like when I reviewed the A-Team, leave your brain at the door, and ‘try’ to enjoy the movie. In the end, Knight and Day may entertains some audiences, kinda love storyish in a way....but if you’re looking for some seriousness, you’re in the wrong section, dude.

My Rating : 7/10