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Reviews
STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED
Unmissable 5 Stars
Excellent 4 Stars
Good 3 Stars
Poor 2 Stars
Tragic 1 Star

FILM DETAILS
Certificate
12A
Cast
Henry Cavill
Bruce Willis
Sigourney Weaver
oscar jaenada
Joseph Mawle.
Directors
Mabrouk El Mechi.
Screenwriters
Scott Wiper
John Petro.
Running Time
TBC minutes

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The Cold Light Of Day
Superman searches for kidnapped Ripley and McClane


Plot
In Spain, American Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) has to go on the run after his parents and brother disappear and he finds himself plunged into a conflict between rogue intelligence factions who are out to secure a mysterious briefcase.

Review
Surely, Sigourney Weaver has better things to do than make Abduction twice in one year? This has the same premise as the Taylor Lautner vehicle, as the everyman protagonist (Henry Cavill here, a grown-up) discovers his Dad (here, Bruce Willis) is a secret agent who everyone wants dead, so he has to learn action movie skills overnight to survive. Weaver even plays the same sort of sinister suit role.

The script is cobbled together from Robert Ludlum’s knock-offs, nice Spanish locations feature as backdrops to the usual chases and fights, Veronica Echegui (from Bunny and the Bull) is an appealing but underused Eurobabe heroine and the plot is full of twists but offers no surprises.

Mabrouk El Mechri, director of the well-liked JCVD, can assemble an action scene reasonably, but is stuck with you’ve-seen-it-before gambits like the hero and heroine abseiling off a roof with a satellite dish cable or a secret meeting in an underground car park which turns into a bullet festival.


Verdict
It exists basically as a long showreel for Superman-to-be Henry Cavill, who gets to demonstrate a mastery of run-with-a-gun acting and flex his leading man charisma without really breaking a sweat.


Reviewed by Kim Newman

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Your Reviews

Average user rating for The Cold Light Of Day
Empire Star Rating

THE WARMED UP LEFTOVERS OF THRILLERS PAST

Brainlessly entertaining - but the only real reason to watch this is to see Henry Cavill before he suits up for Mr. Snyder this summer. TWO STARS ... More

Empire User Rating

Posted by ROTGUT at 16:26, 05 April 2013 | Report This Post


RE: TERRIBLE!!!!!

L: Phubbs The plus points are the action which isn't too bad, the car chases are quite good, looks flashy at night with good lighting. ou reckon? From my memory, those chases you speak of take place entirely in the dark - and not in a natural or satisfying way. ... More

Posted by Qwerty Norris at 07:45, 25 October 2012 | Report This Post


RE: TERRIBLE!!!!!

The Cold Light of Day Pretty standard affair, pretty standard plot but not quite as bad as many have made it out to be in my humble opinion. I think one issue here is the fact the cast seem to be daydreaming through the film. Willis just does what he's done for years with that annoying smirk on his face, does he even know he's in a film?. Weaver isn't really the right person for her role as she's clearly too old and hardly menacing, doesn't look capable of shooting people or even runn... More

Posted by Phubbs at 05:03, 25 October 2012 | Report This Post


TERRIBLE!!!!!

WATCHED THIS AT WEEKEND....ITS AWFUL....CAVILL IS PAIN WOODEN, AND THW WEAVER/WILLIS PERFORMANCES ARE SO PHONED-IN IT'S UNTRUE..... ... More

Empire User Rating

Posted by chrisdagnall at 19:20, 08 October 2012 | Report This Post


RE: a film full of big names with much bigger roles in production

Saw this last night, wasn't expecting a lot yet was still left disapointed. I found the storyline predictable and boring, and also a bit all over the place. It was very unmemorable and I wouldn't reccomend seeing it. ... More

Empire User Rating

Posted by yazoo88 at 10:48, 13 April 2012 | Report This Post


RE: a film full of big names with much bigger roles in production

bland (Adjective): 1. Lacking strong features or characteristics and therefore uninteresting. 2. (of food or drink) Mild or insipid. 3. Henry Cavill ] ... More

Posted by Qwerty Norris at 19:20, 12 April 2012 | Report This Post


a film full of big names with much bigger roles in production

this is far from perfect too many un answered questions to make this a much watch. henry cavill does just enough with lead but this is easily just an easy payday for him till man of steel next year, nice touch to add bruce willis in the cast and siggourney weaver looked on autopilot from the word go. all in all empires 2 stars is i feel a bit harsh butunderstandle on the whole ... More

Empire User Rating

Posted by chrisharvey1551 at 02:23, 12 April 2012 | Report This Post


dull and generic

Empire gets this right with 2 stars. Far too generic and obvious and offers nothing fresh at all. It also has lots of plot elements that it doesn't bother explaining, why were the local cops in on the conspiracy, what was the deal with the half-sister-Eurototty, what was in the briefcase etc etc. When he is on foot and on the run the Spanish cops are everywhere, when there are shoot outs on the streets, car chases and guys in combat gear charging around - suddenly not a cop to be seen! It ju... More

Empire User Rating

Posted by bretty at 09:47, 11 April 2012 | Report This Post


Cold light of day

Dunno what film kurgan was watching but it can't have been the same film as me. Decent action flick. Reasonably well strung together with solid characters. Good effort well worth a watch. ... More

Empire User Rating

Posted by HERMES_67 at 19:28, 07 April 2012 | Report This Post


AAAAAAAAAAAAGH !!!!

Please do NOT waste your time with this. Bruce Willis is a cameo, Siggourney Weaver really should know better. Some scenes were like a really bad improv on 'Whose Line is it Anway'. The 'script' was written in 5 minutes on a fag packet and the film obviously started shooting on a skeleton of an idea and the rest they made up as they went along. What's in the suitcase? HAHAHAHAHAHA. ... More

Empire User Rating

Posted by The kUrGaN at 19:15, 06 April 2012 | Report This Post



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