Knight and Day

Director James Mangold (of Walk the Line fame) takes viewers back to the days when romantic comedy adventure films reigned at the box office with well-executed action comedy Knight and Day. After many failed attempts by Hollywood at reviving the lovable sub-genre, with films starring a shirtless Matthew McConaughey and Anne Heche during her very short-lived lesbian phase, one would think James Mangold struck gold by getting two of Tinseltown's A-list stars as his leads. Unfortunately because this summer featured many lukewarm action blockbusters, Knight and Day hardly got the credit it deserved, which is a shame, as the film delivers what the trailer promised: a skilful blending of the perfect amount of romance, satire and explosive action sequences to please mainstream filmgoers. Although the film suffers from trying to pass its overly cheesy moments off as tongue-in-cheek humour, its expansive cinematography and ability to move along at a vigorous pace are enough to effectively engage and entertain its audience. Knight and Day is also able to set itself apart from most action films by having both Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz execute all their stunts – watch the director nearly have a heart attack filming the two Evel Knievels during training in an out of the ordinary behind-the-scenes DVD featurette detailing every jaw-dropping stunt. Other DVD features include a couple cheesy viral videos sure to make women in their 40s chuckle and a behind-the-scenes featurette with Tom Cruise performing with the Black Eyed Peas that will make viewers in their 20s wince. If people could just forget about Tom Cruise's infamous couch-jumping incident, they would soon realize that this hardworking actor is still able to deliver what audience members want, and then some.