The Cold Light of Day

Directed by Mabrouk El Mechri, The Cold Light of Day follows Henry Cavill’s Will Shaw as he’s forced to unravel a complex mystery after his father (Bruce Willis’ Martin) is killed and his family is kidnapped. Filmmaker El Mechri, working from Scott Wiper and John Petro’s screenplay, admittedly does a decent job of initially drawing the viewer into the proceedings, as The Cold Light of Day kicks off with a relatively promising opening stretch that effectively establishes the aforementioned characters and their fractured relationship – with the watchable vibe heightened by the charming efforts of both Cavill and Willis and the irresistible Spanish scenery. The picture’s transformation into an increasingly tiresome and interminable endeavor, then, is triggered by a sluggish, convoluted midsection, as El Mechri places a growing emphasis on Cavill’s less-than-enthralling exploits and compounds the arms-length vibe by delivering a series of bland, hopelessly lackluster action sequences. (It is, for example, impossible to understate the degree to which the movie’s various car chases are unable to thrill or excite.) By the time the frenetic yet aggressively uninvolving climax rolls around, The Cold Light of Day has cemented its place as an often astonishingly inept piece of work that squanders its decent setup and talented performers.

* out of ****

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