KNIGHT AND DAY

KNIGHT AND DAY (Rated PG-13 for some profanity, action sequences of ongoing violence):  Roy (Tom Cruise wearing a perpetual Giaconda smile) is a "Mission Impossible"-type spy gone rogue, who picks up sweet, innocent June (Cameron Diaz) in an airport.  Then on a mysteriously nearly empty plane flight she dodges bullets as he turns the situation into a shoot-em-up daring-do melee - just one of dozens from Boston, Brooklyn, the Alps, Austria, Germany, Spain, D.C. and Chile, to name a few of the exotic locales, in an attempt to avoid capture by a fed agent (sober-faced Peter Sarsgaard) for a MacGuffin reason that writers Scott Frank, James Mangold & Laeta Kalogridis tossed into the crazy, dizzying milieu.

The first part of this overly complicated film shows interest.  The mystery unravels with delightful anticipation as we are kept wondering (along with June) what's next and who's this guy who can take over a commercial plane & land it safely in a cornfield, and who can continue to do just about anything but leap tall buildings in a single bound, just to stay one step ahead of the zillings of people out to kill the two of them - all to capture a tiny battery that in the wrong hands could blow up cities.

As improbable situation after improbable situation develops, with the duo flitting with Teflon ease (for example, he calmly braves a hail of bullets to prove his feelings toward her) that a sneaking suspicion develops.  This is a knock-off of all spy thrillers - reeking with noisy, flashy explosions, hails of bullets, and anything else the bomb squads come up with, so effortlessly, leaving them all but unscratched. It simply can't be taken seriously.  That continues for nearly two hours before - well, we all know how this spy-meets-girl in a hail of bullets will turn out, don't we?

For a while we are surprised, thrilled and entertained - until the routines are played out, over & over in minor variations, just on different terrains, until it becomes a matter of:  OK already, let's just get it over with so I can go  home & wait for the ears to stop ringing.

Director Mangold seems to be hanging on by the flap of the coattails of everyone involved - probably left exhausted from dredging up all the destructive action and bravado from dozens of past action flicks he crammed into this one.   It's summertime at the movies, folks, and Mangold knows that if the plot's weak, just make the movie loud and fast.  And cast it with a pair of pros who know how to play it tongue in cheek.  Up to a point, for a while, it works.

But what a no-brainer title; must've been the brilliant idea from a stupid producer with clout.  (Grade:  C+)