"Knight and Day" Movie Trailer Review

By our guest blogger, Eva Medoff

Tom Cruise is back to making action films, in an apparent test by 20th Century Fox to find out whether anyone likes him anymore--or, more specifically, to find out whether he’s still a bankable star. Ditto for Cameron Diaz. The name of this unfortunate project? “Knight and Day,” formerly known as “Wichita.” There’s nothing in the trailer to lend credence to either of these titles. It seems as though Fox was rummaging around in an old hat and picking names at random. The same can be said of the plot, which appears to be scrapped together from bits of recycled action/adventure films, and for the stars, whose wattage has diminished at a similar rate.  So, you know, why not throw these two together?

As for the plot, here goes--girl witnesses something she’s not supposed to, and gets caught up in a violent scheme with a mysterious secret agent. Girl is clumsy and gets into all sorts of shenanigans, and though the trailer doesn’t suggest this--girl and secret agent probably fall in love.

It’s nice to see a movie shot in Boston actually take place in Boston, rather than having the city as a stand-in for New York. Production also was taken to Seville, Spain, though we see none of that in the trailer. It’s possible that Diaz and Cruise can muster up enough charm to make this film bearable, or that the plot might end up being more layered than the trailer makes it out to be. Either way, if this first glimpse was meant to impress, it’s missed the mark.

I hate to jump on the Hollywood bandwagon and deem these actors “too old,” especially Diaz, but perhaps its time they’ve started choosing different roles. Cruise as the dashing adventure man? Diaz as the damsel in distress? We’ve seen this before, and they’ve both done better. Whatever you call it--“Knight and Day” or “Wichita”--you can’t cover up a bad idea.

View the trailer for "Knight and Day" below. Thoughts?