Geekscape Reviews ‘Knight and Day’ on Blu-Ray!
Let me ask you a question… Do you blink? Because if so, then you probably missed James Mangold’s Knight and Day in theaters this summer. This poor little action comedy (or rather, this poor-yet-extremely-expensive action comedy) got swallowed whole in the tumult of all the Twilights and Toy Story 3’s and The A-Teams that came out this year. Like most of you I ignored it in theaters in favor of what appeared to be more scintillating entertainment. But this week the Blu-Ray edition of Knight and Day arrived at Geekscape Central, and upon viewing it I can say, truthfully, that I actually kind of screwed up. Knight and Day is a great action comedy. One of the best in years. How did that happen?
Knight and Day stars Tom Cruise as Roy Miller, a secret agent who’s gone rogue to protect – or possibly steal – a MacGuffin called “The Zephyr.” I’d tell you what it was, but it’s called a MacGuffin for a reason so let’s move on. Along the way he picks up one of those annoying “Bond”-type girls who have nothing to do with the plot and spend most of their time unconscious, scantily clad or kidnapped. The twist is that in Knight and Day, the girl isn’t an afterthought… she’s the star. This isn’t a story about a superspy who’s stuck with a normal (albeit very attractive) woman in the middle of an international crisis. It’s the story of a normal (albeit very attractive) woman who’s stuck with a superspy in the middle of an international crisis. That’s pretty clever stuff, and director James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line) handles it with aplomb thanks to a very witty script by Patrick O’Neill.
Mangold isn’t really considered a “genre” director but the shoe fits. He’s directed everything from serial killer thrillers to Oscar-winning biographies, but his last comedy, the Meg Ryan/Hugh Jackman rom-com Kate and Leopold, wasn’t really a thigh-slapper. He’s got a stronger cast here – Tom Cruise is never better than when he gets to be dashing – and a much funnier script. Most of the film is told from the perspective of our heroine June Havens (Cameron Diaz, better than she’s been in a long time), and in Mangold’s hands it becomes a very sharp recurring joke. She’s repeatedly knocked unconscious while Roy gets to shoot the bad guys and make his dramatic escapes, which might have been exciting to see but is a hell of a lot funnier when it’s left off-screen. Never fear though: Mangold pulls off some really thrilling action sequences anyway – including an excellent high-speed freeway chase and a motorcycle chase during the famed running of the bulls. Even these are told from June’s P.O.V., leading to some hilarious sight gags throughout. I realize that it’s never funny to explain a joke, but Knight and Day is a very smart joke that deserves some additional analysis.
The plot is incidental, like the plot in most spy thrillers these days, but never hard to follow, unlike most spy thrillers these days. The real point is the relationship between June and Roy, which rarely feels as contrived as it could be. Her reactions to the madness that is Roy’s life are an appropriate mixture of excitement and terror, empowerment and paranoia, while Roy’s borderline-saintly patience with June works because we genuinely understand why he’d fall for a normal – albeit extraordinary – woman. Cruise and Diaz have real chemistry on-screen, and it elevates what could have been a merely clever film to borderline greatness. The finished product may be flightier than its price tag can justify, but it’s one of the most polished gems of the year. Very well made, very entertaining, and entirely worth your time.
The Blu-Ray edition of Knight and Day also includes DVD and Digital Copies of the film, in case you want to watch it more than once or something. It’s a newer film, so the transfer is pretty damned impressive. Detail is striking, colors are bright. It might not boast the eye-popping clarity of Alien or even The Sound of Music, but videophiles will find nothing worth complaining about, and the sound is pretty spot-on too. There are lots of Special Features but none of them are very substantial: a few short, self-congratulatory “Making Of” documentaries, a music video and some trailers comprise the bulk of the additional material. There are also a couple of cute, and extremely brief “viral” videos showing Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz doing amusing things behind the scenes. They couldn’t be more staged, but they’re pretty funny anyway and are probably the only thing in this set worth watching other than the movie. No commentary tracks to be found, which is a shame because a movie this solid really deserves one.
Knight and Day arrives on Blu-Ray this week and comes highly recommended from Geekscape. We’re just as surprised as you are.
