No matter how many stunts and action sequences filmmakers incorporate into their films, the only way the movie will work is if the two leads have any chemistry. That’s the only reason why I enjoyed Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), which starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a dueling married couple working as assassins targeted by dueling agencies. Forget the plot. By comparison, I wanted to see more focus on the humorous relationship between Jake Gyllenhaal’s swash-buckling hero and Gemma Arterton’s damsel-in-distress in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time than the soulless video game action.
Thankfully, the chemistry between Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise in the spy movie Knight and Day goes a lot farther than the slew of chase sequences and guns blazing. Cruise plays a mysterious, possibly rogue agent who befriends air traveler June Havens (Diaz) making her an unwilling accomplice in a government chase that begins across country and eventually around the world. It’s the likability of the two stars that won me over, not the predictable and, in some cases, unbelievable storyline. I don’t think, for example, in this post 9/11 era you will be lucky to board a flight that has only a dozen passengers. Oh, how I miss those days where I could have several seats to myself.
Women will probably enjoy Knight and Day because it’s got Tom Cruise. As for guys like myself, it’s hard to resist Cameron Diaz’s infectious smile. What male secret agent wouldn’t want to dupe her into getting involved in a worldwide chase that begins for the two characters on an almost ill-fated flight from Witchita Falls and ends on the streets of Spain during the running of the bulls?
