The Cold Light of Day (2012) User Reviews

Not Great But Entertaining

[Ralphus2 · 6/10 · 15 October 2012]

"In the Cold Light of Day" is no "Bourne Identity". It has something of a made-for-TV look to it. At one point while watching, I was reminded of the 80s action/espionage type films sometimes directed by the likes of Lucio Fulci (Contraband, 1980) or Ruggero Deodato (Cut & Run, 1985). I suspect "In the Cold Light of Day" will look as bad in 20-odd years as those earlier films look today. OK, this film is somewhat better production values-wise (but lighter on the Italians' trademark violence), but it still has that Euro-American co-production 'el cheapo' look to it.

Nonetheless, it is, as my review heading states, quite entertaining. It plods along amiably enough for much of its length until the film's highlight, around 16 minutes from the end: a very well executed and imaginative car chase sequence. It's pretty long, well-shot (as is much of the film, incidentally), includes several creative elements, and is fast-paced and pays off well. It's one of the best car chases this reviewer recalls seeing in quite a while.

I suppose a score of 6 out of 10 is quite generous for a mediocre film such as this, but it does reflect the entertainment value this reviewer enjoyed.

Spies are smart and spy movies deserve to be clever – but this is not

[moviexclusive · 4/10 · 24 August 2012]

It's hard to really pin down what The Cold Light of Day is supposed to achieve. It reads like a concept reel for emerging leading man Henry Cavill who will proceed to star as Superman in next year's Man of Steel but it makes so many concessions to the sensibilities of a spy movie that it's never going to be a real jumping point for Cavill. Director Mabrouk El Mechri is almost entirely to blame here, making the most unremarkable decisions that force us to reexamine the intrinsic cleverness of spy fiction. The result is a watery, meandering spy movie that manages even at its best moments to be completely ordinary.

Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) is barely a day into his vacation in Spain when financial problems at home in San Francisco threaten to shorten the trip. After a dispute with his father (Bruce Willis) on the family's rented boat, Will decides to swim ashore for a break. He returns to find his family gone and a call for help at the local police station ends in more trouble. Discovering that he can recover his kidnapped family by giving up a certain briefcase, Will must beat the clock to unravel the underlying mystery but not before he encounters corrupted CIA agent (Sigourney Weaver) and his lost sister (Verónica Echegui).

On one hand, it's easy to be enthusiastic about engrossing yourself in the story but on the other, The Cold Light of Day gives very few reasons why you should. Better spy movies have thrived on providing viewers with at least some clue on what motivates each character to retrieve an important object, kill a person or escape from capture so the audience can make sense of what transpires on screen. The Cold Light of Day, quite questionably, never reveals or alludes to the life-or-death contents of the briefcase, meaning the biggest difficulty is in believing the necessity of all the carnage. It's perfectly reasonable that Will is willing to fire his first shot and participate in a mad car chase only because he wants to save his family. But it's hardly convincing to have pockets of mercenaries and agents chasing a briefcase that might as well be empty.

Such is the silliness of The Cold Light of Day that it often struggles to establish what exactly any of its characters intend to accomplish. If Weaver's character is indeed the CIA agent she claims to be, then she must be the dumbest agent to ever be enlisted. With the briefcase already tucked away in her car seat, she turns a mission-accomplished situation into a senseless civilian killing spree as she trades car paint with Will's vehicle down the busy streets of Madrid. Spy movies usually ask the audience to forgive some disbelief in order to enjoy them but The Cold Light of Day is by far the most demanding. The slightest bit of investigation into the weak plot will crumble the movie faster than a fragile egg tart.

Fortunately, there remains a vestige of believability in Will. As an innocent civilian unwittingly hooked into a web of dangerous games between mercenaries and agents, Cavill brings a sort of genuine clumsiness to his role, allowing the audience to easily buy his character. For this reason, there won't be any explosive set-piece or many scenes featuring hand-to-hand combat. There're a few tricks to prevent the action scenes from becoming too stale and while some of the stunts are decent efforts, others don't always work. Handcuffed between the tragic decision to set most of the action scenes in the night and the already blurry shots of fast-moving action taken by hand-held cameras, you would be hard pressed to find any shot of action that isn't obscured in any way.

It's a shame because The Cold Light of Day has a talented cast which can actually do justice to the action. However, none of them bothers to offer a performance that's required to make other scenes work. Cavill comes across poorly as a man who's truly shocked that his family's been kidnapped, responding to a call from the kidnappers with an uncanny calmness while Weaver maintains a surprisingly stoical composure throughout. Willis's character is quickly written out of the story before he could show his acting chops. In a year filled with other spy movies like Total Recall, The Bourne Legacy and the upcoming Bond film, The Cold Light of Day looks like a distant relative.

Average film, distinct lack of Bruce!

[johnnymufc90 · 5/10 · 15 April 2012]

Well I wasn't expecting much from this film to begin with and I certainly wasn't wrong with how the film panned out. When I arrived in the theatre there was background music playing over the trailers and adverts. This even continued into the start of the film! Therefore I couldn't actually hear what was going on for the first 3 or 4 minutes. I should have known what my experience was going to be like after that. I thought the film had a promising start with Willis being about the only semblance of my enjoyment. But it all went downhill after the first 25 minutes or so. I thought the script was dire and the action sequences were poorly directed. In some of the scenes I could plainly tell an effort was being made by the director to imitate some classic action scenes in the Bourne series. The whole business with the briefcase also left a lot to be desired.

Weaver's performance was puzzling. She appears as a ruthless agency operative but at points in the film I was wondering if she thought she was starring in a comedy with her outrageous behaviour in some of the end scenes. Overall I'd say save your money for a better film that doesn't try to rip off other films in its genre.

A bad TV movie

[grahambthomson · 3/10 · 9 April 2012]

I went to see this film after I saw an initial rating on here of 8 out of 10, but let me tell you it is very, very poor.

The film is littered with blatant product placement to the point that I thought at some points I was watching a slick advert. The first of these adverts is when the film lead stops to buy a drink of coke for no reason and proceeds to slowly drink it with the can taking up most of the screen, really just like an advert.

This was a little annoying but I kept hope that this was a small issue in what could become a very good film. Unfortunitly it didn't and car and phone adverts continued through the film. The script was poor and events unbelievable. Most of the action scenes you will have seen copied from Bourne or other action movies but made laughably similar but much worse. The acting from weaver was poor, although I am not sure if the blame lies with sigourney or the director. To be honest Bruce Willis is by far the best actor and carries the film for the first 20min giving some hope it will become a good action film, unfortunately it did not.

I have never walked out on a film but after a number of laugh out loud moments ( at the film ), I was seriously contemplating it. I may be wrong but i think we have a nomination for a rotten tomato award.

3 stars is being kind,

Don't bother.... it's a waste of time.

[volatileacid_at_gmail_dot_com · 2/10 · 9 April 2012]

If you've seen the Bourne Trilogy, and then you go and see this - you're going to be severely disappointed. It's like a poor man's version! This film tries to be everything that the Bourne series was - but fails spectacularly. Every element of this film that comes together to make the whole - is worthy of criticism. The storyline is amateurish. When you get to the end of the film, you recollect what you've just seen and think to yourself - man there were so many far fetched scenes and wholly unnecessary ones - but then again, if plot didn't contain them, there'd be no film! I'm sorry to be so vague, but this film was put together like a recipe. The writer must have asked himself - what do I need to put into an action/thriller to make it worthy of that genre? Got all the elements together, and mashed them together hastily to produce this utter waste of time. You're left devoid of any satisfaction by the time you reach the end. Just don't watch it and save yourself some money. Rent it on DVD, you'll thank me later.

Cashing in on Bourne

[brijs82-458-528496 · 2/10 · 24 August 2012]

Even without a viewing of the trailer, I came into this movie with mildly high expectations as the the outline and cast list sold it to me. I wasn't expecting ground breaking, I wasn't expecting Willis/Weaver to have the roles of their careers, I was however expecting a middle of the road Bourne style action/mystery/spy thriller that had me entertained and interested... I was WRONG.

Although I wasn't expecting anything new, I thought maybe a new take? No. This movie was the movie you've seen a million times, but worse. It was clichéd to the extreme, the acting was laughable and wooden and everything about it seemed hard work. Even the one scene Willis and Weaver shared together seemed laboured, like neither really wanted to be there at all.

There is nothing memorable about any part of this film whatsoever other than the blatant and at times literally 'in your face' product placement. I've never seen anything quite like it. The whole movie looked like it was written in 5 minutes with the sole purpose of cashing in on Bourne, selling a few Audi's and cans of Cola, and providing Mr Willis and Ms Weaver one more paycheck before inevitable retirement (seems Weaver will do anything for a peanut these days).

2/10. Poor, poor waste of time. Avoid.

Seriously not as bad as everyone says!

[kall6695 · 7/10 · 10 September 2019]

A guy goes on a vacation with his family and then his family disappears. He spends the rest of the time trying to find them and learns some difficult things about his dad. Comparisons to Bourne Identity are stupid. This is not like Bourne. This guy has no training as a covert agent. He goes through an awful lot of bad stuff trying to find his family.

That being said, Bruce Willis is not in that much of the movie. This is a Henry Cavill movie. And he's pretty darn attractive to watch.

There is a lot of action, lot of shooting, beating up, etc. Crooked government people.

But overall, not a bad movie to watch!! If you wanted to see Bourne, go watch that movie!

Absolutely awful

[pauls156 · 1/10 · 26 August 2012]

If I could give this movie a 0/10, I would.

First off, and the only good thing about this movie is, there were some great actors and actresses in this movie. However, they couldn't pull off their respective roles really well.

Bruce Willis is made out to be, according to the movie poster, a lead character. Instead, he was only in the movie for the first 20-25 minutes.

Sigourney Weaver was the movie's villain. Her character tried to project a calm, cold/chilling, I don't give a crap demeanor. Instead, she just came off as sounding silly.

The plot was predictable, as was every scene in the movie. Product placement in the movie couldn't have been any more obvious.

It doesn't make sense how the movie's hero, a Wall Street trader, is able to outrun and outsmart trained CIA agents...

There are too many flaws in this movie to summarize it in 1000 words or less so, if you are going to watch, be prepared to be bored to tears...

4.8

[musclehead52 · 7/10 · 23 January 2013]

I have to disagree with the bourne analogy.I just don't see it ,after watching the movie I felt it went in a bit of a different direction and I actually thought the movie was entertaining,and cavill seemed unaware for the most part what was going on.Was it a blockbuster,or huge like the bourne's ? No.But it had merit and I am I admit,a little into cavill,and think he is on the rise.the thing is though,is that they are doing a lot of movies along this same line.Still,all in all,though its not great,i wouldn't go so far to say that its not worth a watch.There may be a few mistakes and oddities in the show,but still it kept my attention to the end.the storyline seems to lack here and there,but I guess I still think it turns out to be a fairly good watch.

The Cold Art of Crap Film Making.

[lewiscole182 · 1/10 · 17 April 2012]

I can't remember a film I've seen that has been as bad as this one. The plot is confusing at times and very poorly written with some scenes being laughable while the excessive and boring action scenes are pretty dire. If the thought of seeing Bruce Willis would persuade you to see this film regardless, don't bother; they kill him off 15 minutes in just as you start to get a small hope he could save this abomination. The rest of the cast give a lacklustre performance overall.

I'd urge you to please save your money and not see this film, unless of course you enjoy an excessive amount of product placement, which is probably the only thing this film succeeds in doing.

An action movie to watch

[tommipaattakainen · 8/10 · 27 July 2016]

I started off watching this movie because of the interesting casting, yet with very low expectations. Often an action or spy movie shot outside US and Hollywood may not really work, this time it did.

Unlike many other watchable action films it took a bit for this one to get started. I would highly recommend to not get discouraged by this, because the time invested will be well rewarded.

One may claim that my thumbs up comments may be somewhat biased for me being an European, still cannot quite grasp how it took me over 4 years to discover this action movie flavored with spy theme, believable story and acting; just the way I like it.

I wanted to see this film because of Henry Cavill from Man from the U.N.C.L.E and for sure because of Bruce Willis. Henry Cavill especially really nailed it.

If you are seeking for a great hour and half of gun blasting spy entertainment, then I would highly recommend to watch The Cold Light of Day. You will not be disappointed.

Not as bad as reviewers put it

[Hokonoso · 7/10 · 10 September 2012]

First let me confirm some of the negative reviews. Sigourney Weaver did a terrible acting job this entire movie but I believe that was the point since she was the bad guy.

This movie is an Action/Thriller. Not a Comedy, not a Drama, not a Romance or even a Suspense... So don't go in it thinking it should be any of those or YOU WILL BE disappointed. As far as Action goes, it had tons of it, as far as Thriller goes, it was very thrilling. I gave this 7 stars because it delivered what I thought it should have.

Some compared it to a bad Bourne Trilogy but let me tell you it is nothing like that series as for 1. The main character has his memory and does not have super powers and 2. He has no training whatsoever making it more believable than the silly Bourne Trilogy. Bruce Willis did a fine acting job and even the main star showed he has promise.

Imo, this is just a nice short feel good thriller that had no other job to fulfill and thus it didn't. You will not like this if you go thinking it is anything but that.

Pros: Lots of action and a decent thriller

Cons: Poor acting, no substance or drama

Still better than reviewers say, but reviews make or break a movie and thus this one wont get seen by many people at all, but such is the life of a movie.

Horrible Movie

[mahmood-n-ibrahim · 1/10 · 3 May 2012]

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The cinematography is migraine-inducing, the directing is pathetic and the main character is laughable with the most exaggerated of acting methods. It seems the entire premise of the movie is to blur in and out of frames while affording no story, no character development and ultimately no point to over half of the existing scenes.

I did not have the opportunity to walk out of the theater because of the company I was with. However, if I could, I would have because it is simply impossible to maintain any interest in this movie. I do not think it is worth seeing anything this director makes in the future.

Pathetic, boring, uninspired and flat

[tecnogaming · 1/10 · 31 August 2012]

If I have to describe this movie with just one word, this will be: "flat".

It is when a movie tries so hard to be original when you know that it will fail miserably in doing so.

From the start the movie is victim of a thousands clichés that on and on progress from worse to unbearable as the movie end.

There is no character progression whatsoever, dialogs are flat, there are no indications of a script, there is none in fact.. Two sides looking for a briefcase that contains a "something" that is not even mentioned in the end is a pathetic attempt as a plot resource.

Even worse is the fact that Bruce Willis is non-existent in the movie, he is basically just for the sake of putting his face in the front cover of the movie.

Sigourney tries so hard with SO little, she surely doesn't need to accept this kinds of roles, specially with movies such as this one.

There are so many plot holes and incoherences that I completely lost all my interest 50% into the movie, for example, in the first 40 minutes of action, our main character was surrounded by cops as soon as he displays a gun, he couldn't move without being surrounded by cops, he even manage to have a warrant order for arrest from the local police, but, incredibly enough, the last 40 minutes of the movie we see car crashes, tourist and local people being killed for no reason, shooting in the streets, so on and so forth with ZERO cops, totally ridiculous!

The movies is a pathetic attempt at an action movie, flat and excessive in violence for no other reason than the lack of a good script.

It doesn't even deserve a 2 in my scale, since any B-movie will surpass this one very easily.

My advice, do not waste your time on this one, it's flat, boring, very unoriginal, being done a million times before and much better.. if you want to see real action with a good script, please, rent or take out of your personal collection the first Die Hard, you will be much more entertained, even if you saw it a hundred times.

Total waste of good actors.

1 out of 10, horrible.

Stay Away

[martinpharrison · 1/10 · 27 August 2012]

This is my first ever comment on IMDb and it is the only time i've found it imperative to do so, simply to say that this is the worst movie I have ever seen.

I think the whole movie was just used as a base to plug any product the makers could find, form coke to blackberry, using Bruce Willis to help with it. Oh how the mighty have become desperate.

From the terrible acting to the obvious clichés, this movie needs to be buried deep underground and never dug up.

Do yourselves a favour and save yourselves 90 minutes of your lives, maybe even take up a hobby, like watching paint dry.

Very disappointing!!!

[rozalka27 · 3/10 · 11 April 2012]

The plot of this movie sucks big time! Bruce Willis only appears for 20 min and nothing more. The rest of the film is rubbish. Acting very poor, Sigorne Weaver put her worst acting ever...ever!!! The story lacks originality and the scenes are so damn cliché that you just want to walk out of the theatre...THe end is also very very predictable, and the twist they tried to create in the film is so lame that I couldn't believe someone will find this movie ever challenging as an entertainment. All the chase for one stupid briefcase and no one knows what's in it not even at the end... The main character accidentally got dragged into the situation and honestly was not the best in his action stunts, but got offered at the end a job for the government...pleasssse! give us a break!

Anyway, all in all disappointing!

A good and solid movie

[timandm · 7/10 · 15 July 2013]

I enjoyed this movie... I'm actually surprised I took time to watch it because of all the bad reviews I've read. I expected a boring and completely predictable movie that moved at a snail's pace... I was wrong...

1: The storyline is pseudo-predictable, but how many movies involving CIA agents aren't? Nonetheless, it still has enough twists to keep you guessing a bit. 2: The acting is excellent. Think about it... Bruce Willis AND Sigourney Weaver... 3: The technical aspects of the movie (cinematography, special effects, etc.) are excellent. 4: It has a good pace. It slows down in places but only to reveal more of the storyline...

It's a good solid movie. I recommend it.

Garbage in, garbage out

[paulbontenbal-466-987246 · 1/10 · 3 September 2012]

This movie just didn't work for me. The screenplay is so lame and just doesn't create a consistent and great movie. Where a good movie creates an arc for a lead, this is a good example why that rule should be obeyed.

Cavill is lacking any kind of likability, and never seems to create a character we are cheering for. He is a spoiled brat that doesn't seem to get along with also not likable Brucy Willy. Because? Because? Ahhhh, daddy wasn't that great in the past.

What is this movie about? A briefcase with 'important documents'....? Whooo? Exciting. But if this is the MacGuffin, what is the overall idea? Is it about Cavill's relationship with his father? Or the rest of his family.

Well you probably won't have the answer because it is missing from the movie. The Cavill at the end of the movie is hurt and has rescued his family, but is still the same guy. No change at all. He has a new sister, but that just covers it.

Missing chance after chance, this movie is a direct example why screen writing is a profession, and not a hobby.

Also, after seeing "Abduction" and "Cold light of day", I am seriously wondering if Sigourney has suddenly become a dyslectic or is in serious need of money. Read the F-ing script woman, you were in "Gorillas in the mist", "Alien", "The Mosquito coast" and other classic movies. Please stay away from these mediocre projects.

Leave me kind of cold in a good way

[sagat4 · 6/10 · 6 April 2012]

The film is not bad and not excellent - it straddles the average line sort of. Not to give much away, i was quite surprised by the film on a whole. Every time i watch a Bruce Willis film i expect to see him in the lead role but he was not the star today - i guess Henry Cavill is steadily been built up to become an A-lister (don't forget he is playing Superman in the 'Man if Steel') The script is OK but does need work in certain areas (watch and find out) Sigourney Weaver played an unconvincing baddie and 'unknown'Verónica Echegui character could have been more involving. I could go on and on but i will leave it there.

My score: 6.5/10 which is decent

Started off fairly promising, but faltered in the latter half.

[thecrimmreaper · 5/10 · 27 February 2022]

The start to this movie was pretty decent, but a series of not that great twists, mediocre action scenes, and very lackluster ending made for a pretty underwhelming experience.

Not sure why all the bad reviews...

[snhoward24 · 9/10 · 16 June 2013]

I have no clue why this movie has such bad reviews. I enjoyed the movie and thought it was a different type of action movie than we normally see. When I first started the movie I didn't know the main character was played by Henry Caville who is starring as Superman in the upcoming Man of Steel movie. I actually prefer his character in this movie versus the previews I've seen for Man of Steel. Anyways, I like the the idea of agents in the American government being corrupt and another country stepping in to help save the day as well as an ordinary guy. I liked how the story developed and I liked the twist of the character of Lucinda. I think people need to watch the movie for themselves instead of just going off of reviews.

Fun to Watch -- but Flawed

[key_man · 6/10 · 28 May 2020]

This movie was not a classic spy-thriller by any means, but it was still fun to watch.

There were a variety of weak plot points that took away dramatically from the film. The worst of which was that in the film Bruce Willis' cellphone was totally unlocked (no password or encryption of any kind to access all features) --- this for an average phone owner would be rare, but for a long-time CIA operative would NEVER be the case. Given that accessing the phone was critical to progress of the story-line this should not have been overlooked.

Beginning of the end

[vitskari · 1/10 · 6 April 2022]

Bruce Willis' character only 30 minutes or so in the movie despite being projected as the "lead" actor? So so movie more likely off being made for direct to video or direct to TV. Hmm. This may be the beginning of the end of his prior big box office draws. Fast fwd to 2022-addendum: Bruce has asphasia and other actors/directors from prior years state he has difficulty memorizing his lines.

Absolute garbage

[jt-43189 · 1/10 · 9 October 2022]

Only great thing about this movie is the Jongert yacht. Otherwise it's absolute garbage from beginning to end .

Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver used to be fabulous but this movie is crap even with them in it.

Ridiculous story line and not worth the 1.33 hours of your time watching it.

Henry Cavill tries his best to be the star and the part doesn't have enough depth to build his character for you to even want him to succeed.

Racing around spanish streets and getting away with it all and who knows what was in the brief case.

Maybe it's what's in the pulp fiction briefcase for all the trouble that case causes :)

So awful, I turned the volume to -1.

[alexunk-06329 · 1/10 · 1 April 2022]

It's not even possible to do this on my soundbar but it glitched and let me set volume to -1. I imagine the soundbar is sentient. Henry Cavill acts like a tree trying to read the back of can of soup.