The Cold Light of Day (2012)

Directed by: Mabrouk El Mechri | 93 minutes | action, thriller | Actors: Henry Cavill, Verónica Echegui, Sigourney Weaver, Caroline Goodall, Joseph Mawle, Emma Hamilton, Rafi Gavron, Bruce Willis, Roschdy Zem, Michael Budd, Óscar Jaenada, Joe Dixon, Jim Piddock, Lolo Herrero, Alex Amaral, Mark Ullod, Andrea Ros, Colm Meaney

Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) is a young man in his mid-twenties and like so many of his peers, he is busy getting his career going. To achieve this, he has just started his own company. He has not had much time for his family, who have settled in Spain, lately due to his busy life. To change this, he decides to come over to Spain for a long weekend to go sailing with his family. This seemingly innocuous weekend quickly turns into a nightmare when his family is kidnapped and Will finds out he has twenty-four hours left to save them from certain death.

You can’t blame ‘The Cold Light of Day’ for a lack of good actors. A look at the cast shows that in addition to Henry Cavill (known for his starring role in ‘Immortals’ and in 2013 to be seen as Clark Kent/Superman in Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel’), the makers also include the greats Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver for the managed to get hold of the film. Still, fans of Bruce Willis in particular will come home from a very cold fair. His character, that of Will’s father Martin, disappears from the story after just half an hour and his role is so marginal that it almost feels misleading to mention that he stars in this film. Fortunately, Sigourney Weaver has been given a somewhat bigger role and she is certainly convincing in her portrayal of Jean Carrack, the boss (or colleague??) of Will’s father. The same cannot be said of protagonist Henry Cavill. No matter how hard the makers have done their best to make the viewer sympathize with Will, they don’t succeed anywhere. In fact, it gets more annoying by the second to have to look at Will and his screaming, hysterical person stands in stark contrast to the much calmer Jean. You will therefore regularly catch yourself that you secretly have more sympathy with the perpetrators than with the victim.

The other roles are also not well filled. During his search through Madrid for the kidnappers, Will soon encounters Lucia (Verónica Echegui) and the two decide to continue the search for Will’s family together. In terms of character, the two fit perfectly together. Where Will seems to find it necessary to shout out every sentence, Lucia excels with her panicky behavior. This duo ensures that the decibels are flying around you. The two actors don’t seem to know what to do with the texts and scenarios that the makers saddle them with. It is painful to see that so little is taken from the potentially so strong cast.

In addition to the dubious acting, the action is also nothing to write home about: the many chases through the streets of Madrid have little to do with it. What remains is a downright mediocre action/thriller, although the addition ‘thriller’ is actually too much credit for ‘The Cold Light of Day’. There is no tension and the eventual story, about a number of organizations that want to take revenge on Will’s father, is disappointingly little and excels in unbelievability.

Where ‘The Cold Light of Day’ in the beginning gives the illusion that it has a lot to offer due to the relaxed setting on the Spanish Costa, this feeling is already gone halfway through the film. It’s a shame that director Mabrouk El Machri follows up the very enjoyable ‘JCVD’ with this dime-a-dozen film, which doesn’t really deserve a theatrical release.