The Cold Light of Day (2012) - Mabrouk El Mechri

Will Shaw heads to Spain for a weeklong sailing vacation with his family.  Will's family isn't exactly copacetic with Will's disciplinary father Martin always riding Will's back.  Will is trying to relax but the whole vacation goes bad when the family is kidnapped by unknown men who are desperate to find this mysterious briefcase.  With his family gone, Will must try his best to uncover the secrets of his dad's intelligence background and figure out the who's and why's surrounding his family's kidnapping.  Mabrouk El Mechri's The Cold Light of Day is a dull thriller that borrows heavily from the first Bourne film making it feel incredibly generic and uninteresting.  Henry Cavil is really poor as the lead protagonist, bringing absolutely no charm or personality to the character.  Will is a character who is thrown into the fire, so to speak, but we never really get a sense of this outside of the aggressive dramatics.   He just has no charisma though to be fair the film's cookie-cutter script and underdeveloped character profiles certainly could be to blame for such a bland character.  The film is essentially a unintentional parable for this character who wants desperately to prove to his father that he is worth a damn.  The Cold Light of Day is unable to generate any tension  because of its generic and bland plot, leading to the whole ticking time-bomb aspect of the film with Will saving his family in time falling completely flat.  I honestly can't think of one good reason to see this film, as everything from the script, to the performances, to the direction coming off as lazy and uninspired.
3/10

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