It’s almost impossible to defend Tom Cruise. For a while I was able to do a pretty good job. But then there was the scientology and all of the couch jumping. So I’ve pretty much given up. But no matter how bad the movie, how stupid the story, Tom Cruise always wins me over. It makes me wonder if he’s in fact Xenu. He’s so cute and charming. That’s right, I have a little man crush on Tom Cruise. I’m not ashamed to admit it.
I’m also not afraid to admit that he got me again while watching “Knight and Day”. Cameron Diaz, however, is a whole other story.
Roy Miller (Cruise) and June Havens (Diaz) meet on a flight from Wichita to Boston. The flight turns dicey when Miller is attacked onboard and kills everyone, including the pilot. June is unwittingly pulled into Miller’s world of intrigue and danger. The film is scene after scene of ridiculous action and non-stop Cruise charm, the only thing that keeps the film afloat.
The film is fun. I’m not going to lie. James Mangold put together a very entertaining comic/espionage/thriller. It’s in the same vein as “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, but where as that film had two great leading actors to carry the film, “Knight and Day” is weighed down by Cameron’s consistent ability to ruin everything.
I can count on two fingers the times I enjoyed watching Diaz. One was when she shook her ass with Spiderman undies (best viewed in Japanese so you don’t have to hear her speak) in “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle”. The second time was the S&M video from very early in her career (Google it). Other than that she’s kind of been a drag on the film industry.
The problem with Diaz is, unlike Jennifer Aniston and Sandra Bullock, she doesn’t have an ounce of talent to carry her into the golden years when her looks fade. Although Aniston and Bullock aren’t much more talented, they still have the ability to get an audience into seats and make us feel a little something for their characters. Diaz doesn’t have that, and I fear that in five years, she’ll be lucky to get straight to DVD work.
Cruise though, man that guy still has it. I swear, another ten minutes of him today and I’d have wanted to fuck him. How does he do it? He hasn’t been this cool in years. When “Mission Impossible”, Brian DePalma’s, not the two shitty sequels, his Ethan Hunt character was touted as America’s James Bond, but I never thought Hunt lived up to Bond. He was passionate, but never had Bond’s sense of humor. I felt Cruise’s Roy Miller came pretty close to being the Bond of old, minus all the banging. Miller only got a shot at Diaz in this movie.
So if you love Cruise and don’t want to admit it, then pretend like you’re a Diaz fan. For some reason she gets more credit than he does these days.
Related posts:
