The Tom Cruise action movie has become a subgenre unto itself over the last quarter of a century, and it’s always worth checking out. That’s become even more true since the A-list megastar decided to double down on pulling off his own increasingly dangerous and death-defying stunts, but his track record isn’t without a blemish or two.
On paper, Knight and Day had the potential to be one of his very best. A big-budget globetrotting romantic caper with espionage elements that paired Cruise up with Cameron Diaz under the watchful eye of James Mangold came packing a ton of potential, but there’s something about the finished product that feels flat.
Cruise is clearly having a ball leaning into some slapstick physical comedy in among the daredevil heroics, and a couple of the set pieces pop with the requisite levels of excitement, but the highlights are few and far between. It’s light and frothy fare that’s ideal for a lazy Sunday afternoon, but it’s never going to be held up as a classic.
Reviews were about as middling as the box office, nixing any chance of a potential franchise at the first hurdle. That being said, Knight and Day has been proving incredibly popular with Netflix subscribers after spending the last week lodged in the platform’s Top 10 most-watched list, as per FlixPatrol.
