Many years we see movies with identical concepts duking it out at the box office, but 2010 sees something different: movies with identically named characters. Both Paul Greengrass’ Green Zone and James Mangold’s Knight and Day have leads named Roy Miller. So how do these two Roy Millers stack up?
Played by:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) is played by Matt Damon.
Roy Miller (Knight and Day) is played by Tom Cruise.
ADVANTAGE: Roy Miller (Green Zone).
Matt Damon is one of the best actors working today, and he takes plenty of chances. Tom Cruise is a great movie star and a fine actor, but post-Magnolia his idea of taking a chance is donning a fat suit in an expensive studio action comedy. Also, Damon has three inches on Cruise.
Job:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) is a Chief Warrant Officer serving in Iraq. A Chief Warrant Officer is commissioned by the President and is a particularly prestigious and important position.
Roy Miller (Knight and Day) is an international superspy.
ADVANTAGE: Roy Miller (Knight and Day).
Superspy is a pretty cool job.
Goal:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) is hunting Weapons of Mass Destruction in a newly liberated Iraq.
Roy Miller (Knight and Day) is trying to protect the Zephyr, a super battery.
ADVANTAGE: Roy Miller (Knight and Day)
The other Roy Miller doesn’t have a hope in hell of finding WMD.
Leading Lady:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) only talks to one woman, a reporter played by Amy Ryan. They have no romantic relationship.
Roy Miller (Knight and Day) is stuck with civilian Cameron Diaz, with whom he shares a deep romantic attraction.
ADVANTAGE: Roy Miller (Green Zone).
He’d win even if there were no women in Green Zone at all.
Sidekick:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) works alongside a one-legged Iraqi named ‘Freddie,’ played by Khalid Abdalla, who also starred in United 93.
Roy Miller (Knight and Day) is stuck with a poorly mustached, Hall and Oates loving nerd played by Paul Dano, whose brutal death in There Will Be Blood almost made up for Little Miss Sunshine.
ADVANTAGE: Roy Miller (Green Zone).
I don’t know if we need to even explain this.
Enemy of:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) is up against a weasely bureaucrat played by Greg Kinnear and a monumentally ass-kicking Special Forces soldier played by Jason Isaacs.
Roy Miller (Knight and Day) battles against a weasely CIA man played by a well-fed Peter Sarsgaard.
ADVANTAGE: Roy Miller (Green Zone)
Jason Isaacs is so much more badass than Peter Sarsgaard.
Demeanor:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) is a no-nonsense, straight ahead military man.
Roy Miller (Knight and Day) is a genial, patient, supportive, funny and kind superspy.
ADVANTAGE: Roy Miller (Knight and Day).
He’s the guy who you’d rather hang out with in a life-threatening situation.
Capabilities:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) is a strong leader and a smart man who follows the truth, not orders. He also gets beat up by Jason Isaacs and gets totally kidnapped by insurgents. He’s a real man.
Roy Miller (Green Zone) can fly a jumbo jet, can shoot any gun, has a secret island, knows all sorts of karate, has the stealth of a ninja, looks great in any outfit… He’s a superhero.
ADVANTAGE: Roy Miller (Knight and Day)
It’s not even close.
Locations visited:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) sticks to Baghdad and the surrounding area. His big exciting moment of glamor is when he goes to Saddam’s presidential palace and has a meeting near the pool.
Roy Miller (Knight and Day) goes to Boston, the Azores, the Alps, Austria and Spain. He also goes to Wichita.
ADVANTAGE: Roy Miller (Knight and Day)
Every place that isn’t Wichita on that list beats Baghdad.
Directed by:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) takes his cinematic orders from Paul Greengrass, who has made his name with the meaningful (Bloody Sunday, United 93) as well as the mainstream (Bourne).
Roy Miller (Knight and Day) is an operative for James Mangold, who specializes in middle of the road stuff like Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma.
ADVANTAGE: Roy Miller (Green Zone)
Greengrass is an Oscar caliber director, not an Oscar chasing director.
Box Office:
Roy Miller (Green Zone) pulled in a disappointing 35 million bucks against a $100 million budget.
Roy Miller (Knight and Day) hasn’t had his moment in the box office sun yet, but tracking is low. Still, it seems unlikely that a Tom Cruise movie will earn less than 35 million… but the movie definitely cost much more than $100 million.
ADVANTAGE: TBD
But let’s be honest, Roy Miller (Knight and Day) is totally taking this one.
Total:
It looks like Roy Miller (Knight and Day) takes the victory. But you can commiserate with Roy Miller (Green Zone) on DVD or Blu-Ray by clicking here.
