Knight and day

Knight and day encompasses all the attributes that should make a Hollywood blockbuster great: Cameron Diaz, Tom Cruise and an A-list director. From the time we realise that Diaz (June Havens) is under the fancy of a crazed ex-CIA assassin (Cruise) and that they have many action-packed scenarios to overcome together in this action-packed script, this should be all we need to make this a blockbuster. But it's not convincing. The action scenarios are not a patch on Jason Bourne's thrift-not that they are necessarily meant to be; but when an audience has seen such execution standards a director must keep in mind the level of expectation from his cinema goers. The lack of continued momentum is another issue. Yes we realise that the script contains romantic gaps that fit the love story but it doesn't mean the film needs to lack continued direction. Cruise's acting is another fault. Yes, we know he is Tom Cruise, but an actor that smiles during scenarios he should know not to smile in needs a director to give him a mighty slap across the chops. Perhaps that is the problem. Director James Mangold must push his cast to higher levels (or at least take some tips from William Friedkin). This is a good movie but it could have been pushed to become better. I'm sure it'll still be a hit and I'm sure we'll see more installations if the ending is anything to go by....