Action movie rule #1 - Never, EVER, kill off Bruce Willis!
Since the success of the film Taken, movie studios have clambered on the Euro-flick bandwagon, hoping to renew the same old, tired storylines without the American gloss. However, few have succeeded, and The Cold Light of Day suffers from a severe case of homesickness.
The plot is simple: a family on holiday in Spain go missing, whilst their twenty-something-year-old son is away purchasing some antiseptic cream (and a coke). When he discovers them gone, he endeavours to find them only to discover the path blocked by mysterious agents and armed thugs. His father (Bruce Willis), having managed to get away somehow, manages to find his son, only to be shot down in a car park. What ensues from here is a tiresome chase across Madrid, involving every mode of transport you can shoot a gun on.
For a ninety minute film, it really, REALLY drags. Action movies need a degree of depth these days to make them compelling, and this is completely lacking. The characters seem one-dimensional, and the plot barely twists along the way, seemingly happy with a bog standard story. For all the stars the movie boasts, no-one delivers a particularly memorable performance, except Willis, whose short-lived time on screen is a travesty.
Watch at your peril.
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