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Knight and Day

6/10

Stars: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Jordi Mollà, Paul Dano, Viola Davis, Marc Blucas, Maggie Grace

Director: James Mangold

This comic-book caper has it all: exotic locations, beautiful stars and constant action. Everything, in fact, except a shred of credibility. This is Die Hard lite. Very lite.

June (Diaz) is on her way to her sister's wedding when she bumps into Roy Miller (Cruise) - twice - at the airport. Told the plane is full, she's found a seat at the last moment, only to find the aircraft occupied just by Roy and eight other people, all of whom, including two pilots and a stewardess, are out to kill him. Roy dispatches them all while June's in the loo, lands the plane - which explodes - and runs off with her into the long grass.

There follows a shoot-out in a warehouse, a wild motorbike chase, a wild car chase and a flight from e helicopter gunship on an island, all in pursuit of a 'perpetual energy source' (Hitchcock's famous 'McGuffin') which may well have been infused into Cruise himself, as a 'rogue FBI agent', as he leaps around balconies, rooftops, cars, trains and anything else to hand.

And yet we watch with glazed eyes, and only a flicker of interest. If only it weren't all quite so absurd. Diaz - whose film it really is, and who almost keeps the foolish frolic grounded - and Cruise flash teeth and charisma in rather too many close-ups, but give it their all in at least some of the stunts; the rest of the cast is just along for the manic ride. Special effects are poor by today's demanding standards.

David Quinlan

USA 2010. UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox. Colour by deluxe.
109 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 02 Aug 2010