IMDb RATING
4.9/10
41K
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After his family is kidnapped during their sailing trip in Spain, a young Wall Street trader is confronted by the people responsible: intelligence agents looking to recover a mysterious brie... Read allAfter his family is kidnapped during their sailing trip in Spain, a young Wall Street trader is confronted by the people responsible: intelligence agents looking to recover a mysterious briefcase.After his family is kidnapped during their sailing trip in Spain, a young Wall Street trader is confronted by the people responsible: intelligence agents looking to recover a mysterious briefcase.
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The story line is pathetic and weak, with nonsensical script and a very basic lead actor. Sad to see some great 90's actors scraping the barrel. Sorry to be so harsh.
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.
"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.
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,
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,
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.
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.
Did you know
- TriviaWhen Henry Cavill turned up on set, he had just finished shooting Les Immortels (2011) and came sporting an extremely muscular and ultra-ripped physique. Director Mabrouk El Mechri told him that he had to play an ordinary man and that his current body would be completely wrong for the character. Cavill had to lose all the muscle tone and mass that he gained over the previous six months to get his body to look like that of an average man. He did it by eating and drinking a lot and not working out.
- GoofsWill never runs out of bullets and has no magazines.
- Alternate versionsThe UK release was cut, this film was originally seen for advice. The distributor was advised that the film was likely to receive a 15 classification but that their preferred 12A could be obtained by making cuts in two scenes, to reduce a focus on injury in one scene and to remove a large blood spurt in another. When the film was submitted for formal classification, these changes had been made and the film was classified 12A.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Projector: The Cold Light of Day (2012)
- SoundtracksNobody But You
Written by Ali Dee, Alana Da Fonseca and Dan Zank
Performed by Alana Da Fonseca (as Alana D)
Courtesy of Deetown Entertainment
- How long is The Cold Light of Day?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Dura verdad
- Filming locations
- Moraira, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain(boat and harbour scenes)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $20,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $3,763,583
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,831,588
- Sep 9, 2012
- Gross worldwide
- $16,863,583
- Runtime
- 1h 33m(93 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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