The Cold Light of Day
1/4
Starring: Henry Cavill, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Echegui, Bruce Willis
Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Action and Language
Despite the fact that it had nothing to do with this monstrosity, Warner Brothers is no doubt extremely nervous about the piss-poor quality and reception of "The Cold Light of Day." The reason is that its star, Henry Cavill, is the lead in their new Superman movie, "Man of Steel." The utter disaster that the movie is, I don't think "Man of Steel" is in much danger. It's got too many big names behind it (Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder), and Superman is an iconic character. That, and Cavill has proven that he can act ("Immortals," anyone?). The best thing for all involved is to forget about this piece of garbage, and for everyone in the audience to just ignore it.
Will Shaw (Cavill) is an American joining his family on vacation in Spain. He doesn't get along very well with his father, Martin (Willis), who because of his job as a cultural attache, constantly moved his family all around the globe (whether or not this is the source of the friction between them isn't made clear. That happens a lot in this movie). But one day Will goes into town and finds his family gone. In order to find his family, he has to deal with a corrupt CIA agent (Weaver), a local Spanish girl whose uncle was also murdered (Echegui) and constant acts of stupidity.
This sounds like something that Hitchcock would have loved to play around with. Maybe that's what Mabrouk El Mechri was going for. But El Mechri, who directed the pseudo-biopic of Jean-Claude Van Damme, "JCVD" is in over his head. His direction is, at best sloppy, and at worst, incomprehensible. The script is a disaster, yes, but with tighter direction it could have been dumb fun. As it is, it's a mess.
The acting doesn't exactly help matters. Henry Cavill is uneven. There are times when he's effective, but mostly he's flat. Mainly because he's given nothing to work with and no one of any consequence to play off of. Bruce Willis is only on screen for the first 20 minutes. Sigourney Weaver looks like she'd rather be anywhere else, although she's always fun to watch when she's playing a bitch. And his female co-star might be the blandest eye candy I've ever seen. Veronica Echegui fades into the background the minute she shows up and never distinguishes herself.
"The Cold Light of Day," a title that has nothing to do with anything in the movie, was released with no critics screenings. That means that Summit Entertainment, never exactly the bastion of film quality, realized that the movie was crap, and wanted it to disappear while bamboozling as many people into seeing it as possible. It's not going to happen. There was minimal marketing and the public is ignoring it. You'd be best to do the same.
Starring: Henry Cavill, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Echegui, Bruce Willis
Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Action and Language
Despite the fact that it had nothing to do with this monstrosity, Warner Brothers is no doubt extremely nervous about the piss-poor quality and reception of "The Cold Light of Day." The reason is that its star, Henry Cavill, is the lead in their new Superman movie, "Man of Steel." The utter disaster that the movie is, I don't think "Man of Steel" is in much danger. It's got too many big names behind it (Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder), and Superman is an iconic character. That, and Cavill has proven that he can act ("Immortals," anyone?). The best thing for all involved is to forget about this piece of garbage, and for everyone in the audience to just ignore it.
Will Shaw (Cavill) is an American joining his family on vacation in Spain. He doesn't get along very well with his father, Martin (Willis), who because of his job as a cultural attache, constantly moved his family all around the globe (whether or not this is the source of the friction between them isn't made clear. That happens a lot in this movie). But one day Will goes into town and finds his family gone. In order to find his family, he has to deal with a corrupt CIA agent (Weaver), a local Spanish girl whose uncle was also murdered (Echegui) and constant acts of stupidity.
This sounds like something that Hitchcock would have loved to play around with. Maybe that's what Mabrouk El Mechri was going for. But El Mechri, who directed the pseudo-biopic of Jean-Claude Van Damme, "JCVD" is in over his head. His direction is, at best sloppy, and at worst, incomprehensible. The script is a disaster, yes, but with tighter direction it could have been dumb fun. As it is, it's a mess.
The acting doesn't exactly help matters. Henry Cavill is uneven. There are times when he's effective, but mostly he's flat. Mainly because he's given nothing to work with and no one of any consequence to play off of. Bruce Willis is only on screen for the first 20 minutes. Sigourney Weaver looks like she'd rather be anywhere else, although she's always fun to watch when she's playing a bitch. And his female co-star might be the blandest eye candy I've ever seen. Veronica Echegui fades into the background the minute she shows up and never distinguishes herself.
"The Cold Light of Day," a title that has nothing to do with anything in the movie, was released with no critics screenings. That means that Summit Entertainment, never exactly the bastion of film quality, realized that the movie was crap, and wanted it to disappear while bamboozling as many people into seeing it as possible. It's not going to happen. There was minimal marketing and the public is ignoring it. You'd be best to do the same.
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