The Cold Light of Day is as inane as its title. It’s cold – thanks to a wishy-washy script and wooden performances; it’s light on intrigue and intelligence – two pillars of great espionage films; and ironically most of the action sequences happen at night.

The Cold Light of Day just doesn’t give you a reason to care. We’re complete strangers to the main protagonist, a Wall Street investor, who becomes ensnared in a mystery in another city when his family go missing.

Henry Cavill is the talk of Tinseltown ahead of Man of Steel, after starring roles in Immortals and The Cold Light of Day. Although, apart from his Superman looks, he’s yet to leave an impression with a series of vacuous roles to rival Sam Worthington for putting the ‘wood’ in Hollywood. He’s got that steely-eyed Tom Cruise factor, but without the sense that anything’s actually going on behind them.

Cavill just doesn’t have enough likability, charm or ownership over the role for the audience to invest in his character and plight, making him miscast. Sadly, this domino effect carries through the rest of the film, drawing out a forgettable and pedestrian espionage thriller that should have gone straight-to-video.

“Bulletproof, x-ray vision… Superman’s got it easy.”

To make matters worse, The Cold Light of Day casts Bruce Willis as a marketing ploy, whose short-lived role doesn’t get the actor within striking distance of his usual wink-wink charm. The “key” role comes across like a red herring out of water, ranking up there with Samuel L. Jackson in Deep Blue Sea and Steven Seagal in Executive Decision.

Sigourney Weaver seems to be the only woman who can play a middle-aged female operative bad-ass, almost reprising her role from the Taylor Lautner action vehicle, Abduction, like a double agent with a double booking. She’s mostly convincing, but her character’s tenacity reduces her to a bull dog in search of a golden bone, snuffing out a few alley cats that cross her path.

The parallels with Abduction don’t stop there… The Cold Light of Day also functions as a star vehicle that relies on a name cast for credibility, gives the new kid on the block a beautiful co-star to put in danger and jeopardises the production with a lead performance that nullifies reasonable attempts to create a slick, compelling man-on-the-run espionage thriller.

This reluctant adventure puts the hero in unbelievable situations and allows him to escape unscathed without any special training and the greatest of luck. It’s just an exercise in patience as we’re subjected to one second-rate action sequence after another with very little reward. The Cold Light of Day aspires to The Bourne Ultimatum and Taken, but comes off like a clumsy TV movie with very little charm and inspiration.

The bottom line: Wishy-washy

Release date: 16 November
Book Tickets at Ster-Kinekor
Book Tickets at Nu Metro
Catch more movie reviews at SPL!NG