Sunday, July 4, 2010

Knight and Day - Movie Review

Knight and Day (PG-13) 110 Minutes D-
Mission Impossible - Night or Day is crap anytime

Starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Viola Davis, Paul Dano, Maggie Grace, and Marc Blucas

Everyone who knows me knows that I'm an Indie film guy first. Many (not all) of the Hollywood films these days are mindless distractions that sacrifice art for profit. Yet with that said, it has been duly noted that I am a Tom Cruise fan.

Despite the popularity of Les Grossman, his Tropic Thunder character, it's probably uncool to like Tom Cruise these days but the guy intrigues me (Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia, Vanilla Sky, Collateral, Jerry Maguire are my best examples). I've seen over 20 of his films and I'd have to say that Knight and Day is the most disappointing.

In this film Cruise has truly become a caricature of himself, and even though a few of the signature smirks and looks still remain the film is flat and ridiculously chaotic. I'm convinced that this was made with the hopes of capturing every audience/demographic possible.

Cruise and Diaz are present for looks and star power, Viola Davis for the African American set, Paul Dano and Peter Sarsgaard for indie cred, and stupid catch phrases like "I got this" repeated over and over for the sake of having a popular catch phrase. Let's not forget the abundance of car chases, guns, fight scenes, explosions, and a classic car or two for audiences who have a love for such shenanigans. Furthermore there's no nudity which also appeals to a wider audience, after all violence = ok, nudity = bad.

Bottom line- no art, lots of profit is the goal. I'm so disappointed Cruise signed on to do this. Next time leave this sh*t for the Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's of the world. Knight and Day was a waste of my afternoon.

No comments: