The Cold Light of Day

Thrillers with an espionage twist to them are usually done with enough interest to keep you right at the edge of your seat, and we've seen a plethora of them. I must say, "The Cold Light of Day" certainly has enough twists in it to keep that interest going.

A young Wall Street trader, Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) arrives in Spain from San Francisco for a vacation with family on the family sailboat. He is picked up by his father, Martin (Bruce Willis), who works in various different countries for the government.
While Will is off the boat to run an errand, he comes back only to find his family has been kidnapped and is subsequently confronted by the people responsible: intelligence agents, Carrack and Gorman (Sigourney Weaver and Joseph Mawle) looking to recover a mysterious briefcase. With no one to trust, Will ends up befriending a young local woman, Lucia (Veronica Echegui) to help him find his family while avoid being caught by a different array of people.

Others to round out the cast are Caroline Goodall as Laurie, Will's mom, Rafi Gavron as Josh, Will's brother, Emma Hamilton as Dara, Josh's girlfriend, Oscar Jaenada as Maximo, Michael Budd as Esmael, and Roschdy Zem as Zahir.

This was adequately directed by Mabrouk El Mechri ("Virgil" '05, "JCVD" '08). I believe with more theatrical experience, this guy will excel well. It was written by Scott Wiper and John Petro, and the script had you going all the way through keeping you right on that edge. And with the exception of a couple on inconsistencies, it had me riveted. Cavill gave a strong presence. It will be interesting to see how he pulls off his Superman role in the upcoming "Man of Steel".

If you like films that are real nail-biters, with some great car chase scenes, this is the film for you. This film was like a one, two punch dragging you right along and having fun as this film continues to unfold.

Out of 4 stars: 3                      Rated: PG-13                    93mins.