Knight and Day quick review

So...

I saw Knight and Day this weekend. It is easily the best film so far this summer and one of the best of this year. Basically, it's the perfect summer movie, with the right mix of action, adventure, romance and comedy. I had so much fun watching this movie and not knowing where the story was headed next that it felt like I had just stepped off a roller coaster when I walked out of the theater... or more appropriate to the movie, an out of control 747. A lot of that had to do with the amazing stunt work that essentially left my jaw on the floor for most of the film. Tom Cruise did an outstanding job with the action scenes. In fact, I haven't seen someone that spry since Daniel Craig went leaping around from place to place in the last two James Bond movies.

Cruise plays a man of mystery who sweeps Cameron Diaz off her feet when he saves her life early on and in doing so inadvertantly gets her caught up in a dangerous chase between spies. If that sounds like the plot of a James Bond movie, that's probably not far off. Only unlike the James Bond series, this film lets its hair down and its bow tie loose.

The script also features a few little story beats (which I won't spoil) that were particularly ingenious ways to get our characters from point A to point B that I can't believe we haven't seen before in a movie. The two stars themselves, Cruise and Diaz, felt natural together, with chemistry that leapt off the screen via some witty back and forth banter. They actually made the romance stuff as much fun as the "ohhhh, look, they blew up a chopper" stuff, no easy feat in a movie season known for asking audiences to shut off their brains. And not once did I even come close to thinking about Tom Cruise's recent off screen behavior, something I can't say I felt when sitting through his last big screen adventure, Mission Impossible 3.

That's because the screenplay is easily one of Cruise's best since A Few Good Men, and really gives him a chance to shine, reminding us why he is the movie star that he is. It's also because Cruise is working with a director at the top of his game, and everyone involved obviously cares about making a great movie, not just turning in something acceptable to meet the studio's deadlines.

But it isn't just Cruise who excels here. Diaz also throws herself (sometimes literally) into the role of your average tomboy next door mixed up in the spy game, and in the end we have a movie that appeals to women as much as men. Unfortunately, the studio screwed around with the film's release date so much that most people aren't even aware it opened this weekend. The brass sold the movie and not the date, something Toy Story 3 avoided the weekend before. I expect this movie to open soft as a result of this and subsequently turn people off because, as we all know, when a movie opens soft audiences take it as a sign that it isn't a very good film. A shame because I strongly recommend this one as smart, fun adult fare.

Best viewed: opening weekend.