Knight & Day: One of the most poorly marketed movies ever

For anyone that doesn't know, Knight & Day is a movie wherein Tom Cruise satirizes the exact roles he's spent his life playing - especially . Basically, it's two hours of Tom Cruise making fun of his career. And shit...he managed to still make a funny and entertaining movie, with a little charm and quirk even? The movie actually ends up having more interesting personality than any of his last five Mission Impossible movies. Cameron Diaz is fantastic in this too. They don't make sense romantically, but the movie doesn't lean into that too much. Instead, just enjoy their chemistry as two onscreen partners, and enjoy watching Diaz play "Tom Cruise Female Co-star" in a way no one else has.

They shoulda played the "Tom Cruise mocks Tom Cruise" angle for the movie. It came out less than two years after his cameo appearance in Tropic Thunder and could have benefitted from that momentum (he only did Valkyrie between Tropic Thunder and Knight & Day). It's Tom Cruise - but it's new, it's different.

What's more...it would have made it clear to the audience what this movie actually is about: it's satirical, while still trying to tell a genuine version of its subject matter. A subject matter for which Tom Cruise is the literal poster-boy. The movie is absurd intentionally. Because these type of movies are fucking absurd. They're making fun of it. "Oh look, they stole a car and now they're driving down the highway in a convertible...so cliche. Neither one is even watching the road while they're talking. I guess Tom Cruise can magically sense what's ahead of him. Wait. Wtf? They're actually sitting on top of a tractor trailer. Hah. That baited me."

It's absurd shit like that all through the movie. They bait you - and then sometimes they switch and other times they lean into it. And even though he's winking at his own career, he's still turning in an earnest, genuine performance.

This movie for me is up there with True Lies and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. (I know mentioning those three movies together will get some criticism.) Funny, entertaining, feel good action movies that I can just re-watch endlessly and enjoy every time.

Submitted August 07, 2023 at 08:55AM by mavajo https://ift.tt/aVrnfAB