The Cold Light of Day

Plot synopsis:
Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) owns a consultancy business in San Francisco. During the summer break, he reluctantly visits his family in Spain for a holiday. He is met there by his father, Martin Shaw (Bruce Willis), who is himself an advisor for the government. That evening, a phone call to Will concerning his company's insolvency puts him in a bad mood and he decides to go fishing the next day. His preoccupation with the phone results in a sailing accident; Will leaps to save his brother's (Rafi Gavron) girlfriend Dara (Emma Hamilton) from being hit by the yacht's boom but she hits her head on a winch. While everyone is fussing over Dara, Will's phone rings again. In frustration, Martin grabs it and throws it into the ocean. Will decides to swim to town to fetch medical supplies and take some time to cool down. When he comes back, he can no longer find his family in the yacht.
Will goes to the police and they lead him to Zahir (Roschdy Zem), who knows the whereabouts of Will's family, and invites him along to be shown the way. Will senses something is amiss, and attempts to escape with the police car. Martin appears, beats the officers, and helps Will escape.
Martin reveals he is a CIA agent, and explains that the people who kidnapped their family are after a briefcase he had taken while carrying out a CIA assignment. Martin calls his CIA team leader, Jean Carrack (Sigourney Weaver) who agrees to meet him in Madrid. At the meeting, Will stays in the car while Martin talks to Carrack, who says she no longer has the briefcase for she handed it over to their superiors. He doesn't believe her and senses something is wrong. As Martin returns to the car, he is shot and killed by a sniper (Joseph Mawle). Will is shocked but when he gets out to check him, Martin's phone starts ringing and the sniper, Gorman, starts shooting at him. Will grabs the phone, leaves the car, and is chased through Madrid by Gorman. Will escapes, leaving his father's gun in a trash bin. During his escape, Will takes a call from the kidnappers, who want to speak to "Tom" and demand the briefcase in exchange for his family. He is given a deadline of 21 hours and a meeting point.
Will arranges a meeting with his father's friend, Diego. He arrives at Diego's office and meets receptionist Lucia Caldera (Verónica Echegui), who was the girl he spoke to on the phone and it transpires that Diego is her uncle. But Diego was killed by Carrack and Gorman. Will and Lucia escape across the rooftops, but Will is shot. Instead of taking Will to a hospital, Lucia takes him to a nightclub, to a friend who has medical experience. Lucia also tells Will that "Tom" is Martin's alias in Spain, and that she is actually Will's half sister, being Martin's daughter by another woman.
Lucia comes up with a plan to lure Carrack out by starting a tab on her credit card. Gorman appears and is subdued by bouncers at the nightclub and tortured for information. He gives nothing away and Will decides to let him think he has escaped and to follow him. This works and they follow him to Carrack, who has the briefcase and in negotiation with someone in an underground car park. But Carrack senses that something's wrong and starts attacking the negotiators and Will. After an extensive car chase through Madrid, the roles are reversed and Carrack chases them, angry at their interference. The cars collide and Lucia is seriously injured. Just as Carrack is about to shoot Will, she is shot by a sniper, and Zahir retrieves the briefcase. It was revealed that Zahir and his team are CIA agents and Carrack, with Gorman, is a traitor. Zahir commends Will and tells him that his father would have been proud of him. Lucia recovers in hospital, surrounded by her half family. Will is offered a job in the CIA; whether he accepts is left unresolved.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
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 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..
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...
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.
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.
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..
the Bourne and Die Hard movies) and wanted to mix them for the basis of something at least as good, but did not succeed: the result is a porridge of this and that and the logic of events and motives is doubtful and inscrutable (e.g. suitcase-related events, a small business becoming a wild hero within half a day, long car chases without any police visible).
The City of Madrid provides joy of recognition to them who have visited it.The characters are not well deliberated either and it is astonishing why such great actors Sigourney Weaver and Bruce Willis agreed to star in such a movie...
The remaining cast, including the main performer Henry Cavill, is nothing special, not catchy at all.The Cold Light of Day can kill your time, but you can easily avoid 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..
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
The lead character in this film is not Bruce Willis but his "son" played by Will Shaw (Henry Cavill)(2013 Superman), as an actor he did a great job in the epic flick: Immortals.
I haven't seen Henry Cavill act before (actually I have, though I've never noticed him) and he did good as well.This has to be said, and I'm sure everyone who saw the movie will agree with me: Sigourney Weaver was soooo unrealistic in this movie.
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..
If not for the romantic side, this movie has basically everything you need in a thriller: action, secrets, good location and a fast pace that will not give you time to breath or think.
Henry Cavill and Veronica Echugui along with Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver delivered, and I enjoyed this movie from beginning to end!
Her acting in this movie is terrible, yes, but it's not all her fault that the character was written and directed by morons.If you like Bruce Willis don't see this movie because he doesn't have much of a role.
There are a few actors I've trained or worked with that improve my enjoyment of a film merely by their presence and Joseph is one of those.However, not even Mr Mawle can save The Cold Light of Day. It's a mess.Weaver hams it up (as Jean Carrack) even more than she did in Paul (whatever happened to the actress who seized our attention in Alien, enthralled in The Ice Storm and amused in Galaxy Quest?) and, despite being a high-ranking 'agency' gunslinger cannot shoot to hit a static man across a small room!
People who like Bruce WIllis and Sigourney Weaver with like them a little bit less after this film; people who don't like them will be screaming for that 80 something minutes of their life back..
Enjoyed the first few minutes where we felt there was a certain tension despite there being no palpable reason for it.The characters seemed weak and although the general idea seemed like it would work we found the plot and action became less and less realistic as the film progressed.Just about watchable, but the plot was confused to say the least.
It still however feels far from a bad movie and chances are you'll simply have a good time with it while watching it, though it's doubtful you'll ever watch the movie again after it and it won't be one that will stick on your mind for very long time.Make no mistake about it; this is not Bruce Willis his "Taken", though on paper it might still sound that way.
So please, don't go into this movie expecting to see a typical, good old fashioned, Bruce Willis genre flick, in which he gets to do a whole lot of fighting and shooting.
The movie just doesn't always have the best storytelling in it and at times things just aren't really flowing well and pleasantly enough.The movie certainly makes you wonder what the likes of Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver are doing on this but in all truth, their presence helps to bring the movie up another notch.
One of the pointless movie with actors like Bruce Willis and Weaver made to look like jokers.Don't waste 90 min of your time watching this movie.
Henry Cavill partners Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver to spurt a pair of pellets each and to exemplify how unprofessional and uneconomical acts such as The Cold Light of Day can be.
The Spanish location is refreshing and pretty as is Henry Cavill -pretty that is, but he's not a great actor and struggles through this leading role wearing some really bad clothes (I have to add.) Bruce Willis is given top billing but is barely in the movie and just seems to smirk his way through his scenes, I'm not even sure he's acting?
This leads to an out and out chase around Spain, where Will hooks up with Lucia (Veronica Echegui), a young girl eager to settle her own score with Will's charge, and may be more closer to him than he imagined.Unlike other ageing action supremos Arnie and Sly, the third Planet Hollywood pay roller Bruce Willis is wisely taking more sideline, supporting roles in films like this, even if some of them are more lower grade and out the way.
Picking up the pieces of countless action flicks out there and putting altogether, "The Cold Light of Day" has the new Superman (oh yes he is one!) Henry Cavill as an American businessman traveling in Spain when his family mysteriously disappears.
While finding out what happened to them, he discovers that his dad (Bruce Willis) was a CIA agent and that one of his routine missions might have something to do with the case and now the young man has to find a way to rescue his family before time runs out.
Willis is fine here but his character is taken out before it hits the first half hour; Sigourney Weaver has some good moments playing the antagonist, a little bit laughable though just like many of the thrilling sequences, sometimes truly hard to take them seriously.
These are the ones where our hero, always wrongly accused on something and on the run from gun-totting agents from some black-ops government agency or another, has to leg it from one location to another, narrowly getting away each time (and picking up a helpful girl along the way who will serve as the 'love interest.' The Cold Light of Day is one of these sorts of films.
The only real surprises are how this film managed to attract action heavyweights such as Sigourney Weaver and Bruce Willis.
'THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five) The next Superman (in Zak Snyder's upcoming 'MAN OF STEEL' film), Henry Cavill, attempts to headline his own action film (which also co-stars action vet Bruce Willis) and fails.
Not even Willis and Sigourney Weaver (as the movie's main villain) can save this mediocre action film but it does have a few good moments (on a clearly B action movie level).Cavill plays Will Shaw, a Wall Street Trader reluctantly vacationing with his family in Spain.
After he's framed for the murder of a police officer Will finds himself on the run from everyone and only finds help from a young woman (Veronica Echegui) claiming to know his father, who's also on the run from authorities.I never saw the awful looking John Singleton action film 'ABDUCION' with Taylor Lautner (and Sigourney Weaver as well) but, having seen the trailer, this reminds me of a slightly better version of that and Henry Cavill is only a slightly better actor than Lautner.
The only thing i was interested in was to see Sigourney Weaver in the role of a cold and ruthless agent (it's passed some time since I saw a movie with her).
I had assumed it would be a brilliant action thriller, what with Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver making appearances.
One of the films in the list of screenings during the inaugural Screen Singapore event last year, The Cold Light of Day boasts of big names in Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver which would hopefully bring in the crowds, but in truth one of them disappears after 20 minutes, while the other had no more than 20 minutes tops in screen time in the entire film.
At first glance it seems like The Cold Light of Day does have all the necessary elements to be a worthy representative of its genre (spy/action flick) - there is a very attractive, flexible lead actor, captivating storyline, exotic setting (Spain) and fascinating action scenes, not to consider Bruce Willis.
Bruce Willis is a bit of a wild card just to add in a big name and along with Sigourney Weaver provide the big star quality, that never actually happens and both are two of the worst points in this entire movie.
The fight scenes are well done to be fair and although implausible at times, still quite good to look at even if in a dull part of the movie.Like what I said about the fights, the action is actually not too shabby and one of the major points when trying to find positivity about this film are the car chases which are kind of cool.
Pretty Bad. This is one of the worst movies I have seen so far.The story is predictable in almost every scene, and although set in present day with 'realistic' plot you will find too many unbelievable scenes like falling of from a scooter and then sliding with your bare skin over the street without even the slightest scratch.The acting from most actors - given the poor plot - was OK to me, except for Sigourney Weaver who apparently didn't take the movie seriously in the first place and therefore didn't even bother to perform authentic.Since the producers did not believe in a commercial success at the box office either they ensured some cash back through aggressive product placement (cars, phones, soft drinks, ...).Do not waste your time and money on it..
It took longer than necessary to indicate who the bad guys were and then you do get angry at these bad people, which is all good for a action film...but you never get the release of this buildup it just has this blunt ending with no answers and accompanied by irritating characters.The failure of 'The Cold Light of Day' goes down only to the story and script, the acting was no showstopper, but no acting or special effects or even a love seen or whatever could have saved a horrible plot and story line...it was just not a well thought out film.
For a movie that had both Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver on the cast list, then it faired surprisingly weak for an action thriller.
And it didn't help the movie one bit that it was weighed down by a fairly generic and rather boring storyline.The story in "The Cold Light of Day" is about Will (played by Henry Cavill) who is reunited with his family in Spain, though he is absentminded because of work issues back in USA.
And the characters in the movie weren't all that interesting, and not even Bruce Willis nor Sigourney Weaver were able to pull off their usual great performances.
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.
*sigh* The movie is brilliant, great acting throughout the film, epic and thrilling action sequences, and a good story.
The directing was a bit off and this showed on every character including veterans actors like Sigourney Weaver and Bruce Willis.