Dura verdad

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.

Apparently, the screenwriters had several patterns (incl. 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 ending is also trivial and expected, luckily, the length of the movie is 1,5 hours only. 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... Nevertheless, the are pleasant to watch. 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. Even 2012 provided dozens much better action movies.

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.

"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.

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,