The Cold Light of Day

Play trailer

The Cold Light of Day

PG-13

Released Sep 7, 2012

1h 33m

Action

Mystery & Thriller

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

4%

Tomatometer

47 Reviews

29%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Young business consultant Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) flies to Spain for a vacation aboard his family's sailboat. When Will returns from some on-shore shopping, his family is gone and will be killed if he does not deliver a missing briefcase within 24 hours. As it turns out, his father (Sigourney Weaver) is not a cultural attache but a spy, and Will is in over his head. He must find a way to turn the tables on his enemies, or he and his family will all die.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Buy Now

Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

Cavill is no substitute for Van Damme, whose self-critical performance gave the earlier movie much of its heft

Sep 14, 2012

Full Review

Marc Savlov

Austin Chronicle

Fans of inane and/or unnecessary expositional dialogue will have a field day. Everyone else can Netflix Hudson Hawk and forget to watch it, thus having more fun than anyone who shells out $10.50 for this tedious stinker.

Rated: 0/5

Sep 14, 2012

Full Review

Sheri Linden

Los Angeles Times

The script throws around phrases like "intel," "terrorist" and "rogue operative," but as time bombs go, the briefcase-versus-loved-ones ultimatum barely ticks.

Rated: 1/5

Sep 10, 2012

Full Review

Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

Bruce Willis disappears, Henry Cavill takes center stage, and the bottom falls out.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 19, 2022

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...an often astonishingly inept piece of work that squanders its decent setup and talented performers.

Rated: 1/4

Apr 30, 2022

Full Review

Jason Best

Movie Talk

Even if Cavill's bewildered hero is taken aback by successive turns of events, the viewer will probably see every twist coming.

Dec 12, 2020

Full Review

Read all reviews

Bryan S

It's OK. There's some good action and some good actors. Bruce Willis needed more time. The plot is thin, but not the worst I've seen. Overall, it's a good enough spy movie.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

08/01/25

Full Review

Stephen C

Unsuccessful action movie in 1 hour and 33 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/29/25

Full Review

Ashes R

I don't know how you get Sigourney Weaver, Bruce Willis, and Henry Cavill and still end up with a boring movie but this fits that bill. Not great.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

08/19/24

Full Review

Kyle J

I kept expecting Bruce Willis to enter stage left and explain some grand joke played on his son. If you like car chases where a Range Rover can emulate James Bond’s sports car, skip the first 70 minutes, enjoy the next 10, then watch something else.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

07/20/24

Full Review

Steve D

Big stars in small roles and not much else.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

10/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best part was when it finally ended. Yet ANOTHER great example of why Hollywood writers should go off strike and be thankful to have jobs at all when they’re about as terrible at writing as humanly possible. Garbage. Cavill’s character is the epitome of sh!t for brains! Even when Mossad is basically protecting his family & tells him he’s good and they’ll take over, he just has to F it all up the a$$! If the little twat would’ve just let them retrieve the goddamned briefcase he would have his family and be safe already. What a brainless wonder!

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/21/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Mabrouk El Mechri

Director

Henry Cavill

Will Shaw

Bruce Willis

Martin Shaw

Sigourney Weaver

Jean Carrack

Verónica Echegui

Lucia Caldera

Caroline Goodall

Laurie Shaw

The Cold Light of Day: Official Clip - A Special Agent

2:38

The Cold Light of Day: Official Clip - Will is Cornered

1:57

The Cold Light of Day: Official Clip - Finding a Way Down

2:15

The Cold Light of Day: Official Clip - Did You Set Me Up?

1:44

The Cold Light of Day: Official Clip - Do You Want to Save Your Family?

1:34

The Cold Light of Day: Official Clip - Battle for the Briefcase

2:23

The Cold Light of Day: Official Clip - He Was My Father Too

1:39

The Cold Light of Day: Official Clip - The Deal

1:51

The Cold Light of Day: Official Clip - Chase Through Madrid

2:14

The Cold Light of Day: Official Clip - Caldera's Office

2:08

View more videos

Taken 2

22%

52%

Taken 2

Watchlist

Limitless

68%

74%

Limitless

Watchlist

Non-Stop

62%

63%

Non-Stop

Watchlist

White House Down

52%

62%

White House Down

Watchlist

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

55%

52%

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Critics Consensus: The Words Doesn’t Know What To Say

View more photos

Synopsis

Young business consultant Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) flies to Spain for a vacation aboard his family's sailboat. When Will returns from some on-shore shopping, his family is gone and will be killed if he does not deliver a missing briefcase within 24 hours. As it turns out, his father (Sigourney Weaver) is not a cultural attache but a spy, and Will is in over his head. He must find a way to turn the tables on his enemies, or he and his family will all die.

Director: Mabrouk El Mechri
Producer: Marc D. Evans, Trevor Macy
Screenwriter: Scott Wiper, John Petro
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
Production Co: Film Rites, Picture Machine, Haven Entertainment
Rating: PG-13 (Intense Sequences of Violence|Intense Sequences of Action|Language)
Genre: Action, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 7, 2012, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 6, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $3.7M
Runtime: 1h 33m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Most Popular at Home Now