Knight and Day - B

June (Cameron Diaz) is on her way to her sister's wedding when she bumps into secret agent Roy (Tom Cruise) at the airport. On the plane, the flirting escalates but when she goes to the lavatory, everyone else on board tries to kill him. They separate after surviving the plane crash. When she doesn't take his advice and begins speaking to government officials (including Peter Sarsgaard and Viola Davis), her life is threatened and he comes to her rescue (multiple times). Roy is accused of going rogue, kidnapping an inventor (Paul Dano), and stealing his invention (a battery that is self-sustained as an energy producer) . . .

They squeeze a lot of action scenes and beautiful scenery into the 109 minutes. Some of the transitions (which rely on characters blacking out) are either inspired or lazy depending on if you're liking the characters or not. Cruise and Diaz have pretty good chemistry together and Cruise is as relaxed and playful as he's been in years. Dano is an unholy mess as always; Sarsgaard and Davis struggle to find depth to their thinly written characters. Director James Mangold actually maintains the comic-action tone pretty well. The film is told from June's perspective and tries to show how to make a relationship work. The plot is predictable and there's never any real tension or danger, but the leads are charismatic and Mangold stages the action scenes well. The music doesn't add anything but the cinematography is bright and colorful. This is beautiful junk food - void of any nutrition - but it is fun. Expect a long life in the ancillary markets. B