Review of Knight and Day (2010) by Yasemin Y — 16 Apr 2017

I don't want to say that a movie having a pun in its title is necessarily a bad thing, but it's certainly not an auspicious start. Unfortunately, Knight & Day's title doesn't even make sense.

One of the lead character's surnames is Knight, so it stands to reason that the others should be Day, but it's not. Sadly, that's the least of the films woes. It's hopelessly formulaic, loaded with distracting CGI, has a surprise reveal villain that's not even remotely surprising, another villain who does very little and a central plot device which is the very definition of a McGuffin.

The chemistry between Cruise and Diaz is easy-going enough in places, but their development is weak and the latter rapidly becomes one of the most annoying characters in recent movie history, making unforgivably stupid decisions and reacting completely unrealistically to what's going on around her.

The plot is flimsy and trite and pulls a fade to black transition whenever it hits a narrative dead end, which occurs at least 4 times. It's almost as if the people making the movie assume you're too stupid to ask any questions, figuring you'll go along with all the nonsense regardless.

It's admittedly fun in parts, but there's virtually nothing here that hasn't been done better in other films. It's cinematic escapism at its most shamelessly recycled.