Review: The Cold Light of Day

Henry Cavill plays a young businessman trying to deal with some rather dire financial problems, before deciding to leave it all behind and go on a sailing vacation with his family in Spain, including parents Bruce Willis and Caroline Goodall, as well as his brother and the latter’s girlfriend. Cavill decides to stop for supplies onshore whilst the boat is docked, and when he returns...everyone is missing, though the boat is still there. The corrupt local cops are no help, and things seem awfully suspicious to say the least. And that’s when dear old (hard arse) dad resurfaces to tell him that he’s actually CIA, and the family disappearance is all his fault. Terrorists (or are they?) have the family and won’t give them up until Willis gives them what they need (something about a MacGuffin...er...briefcase). Sigourney Weaver plays Willis’ old partner who is no help whatsoever (wanting the briefcase herself), Veronica Echegui plays a pretty local who helps Cavill, and Joseph Mawle plays a nasty but not very bright henchman.

 

A film starring John McClane, Ellen Ripley, and Superman that was released direct-to-DVD in Australia and barely given lip service at the American box-office? How is that even possible? Just watch this 2012 thriller from “JCVD” director Mabrouk El Mechri and writers Scott Wiper (director/co-writer of “The Condemned”) and John Petro (A TV producer in his first screenwriting endeavour). It’s not a bad film by any means (not nearly as bad as its reputation...or its title), and in fairness “Man of Steel” came out after this Henry Cavill vehicle, but it’s a watchable film that has been rather poorly presented. The plot is like “Breakdown” meets “Abduction” and “Taken”, and although slow-starting, it sure as hell leaves the latter turkey for dead. However, as intriguing as the central idea is, it’s a predominantly ugly, extremely murky-looking film. The shaky-cam employed by cameraman Remi Adefarasin (“About a Boy”, “Little Fockers”) is also entirely unnecessary (something that also plagued “The Condemned”), and combined with the horribly unattractive night-time scenes, make for an ultimately not very enjoyable experience. The local architecture looks lovely when the DP and his shitty digital camera allow it to be so, but I just think the negatives outweigh the positives with digital cameras, no matter how much of a philistine I sound at this point.

 

Cavill is OK in the lead, and although no great English speaker, Veronica Echegui is appealing. Similarly, French actor Roschdy Zem (as one of the people who are holding Cavill’s family) is no great English speaker, but isn’t bad in a rather shadowy role. Bruce Willis is appallingly underused and gives the absolute bare minimum, clearly not giving a fuck. It’s kind of a ‘Basil Exposition’ role, or more precisely, Jason Isaacs in “Abduction”. Willis also strikes me as the last guy who would have a yacht (even though the real-life Willis I’m sure can afford one), but perhaps that’s just me. Although playing a trigger-happy, pants suit waring villain isn’t the best use of Sigourney Weaver, she’s perfectly fine. I’ve just seen her do much, much better with far superior roles. Everyone’s gotta eat, I suppose. Meanwhile, if anyone can explain to me why Colm Meaney only turns up for a walk-on at the end, I’ll greatly appreciate it. His ‘special appearance by’ credit should really read ‘special walk-on by’.

 

Some of the car chases and action are really well-executed, even when it all looks so ugly. It’s a watchable film, but the ugly visual presentation proved quite a challenge for me, and the big names in the cast have done much more substantial work than this.

 

The plot is intriguing enough that you want to stay to the end to see what happens, but that and some well-staged action aren’t enough to make it a memorable film.

 

Rating: C+