190, The Cold Light of Day

Its been a quiet few years at the Box Office for Bruce Willis with 'Red' in 2010 being his last notable performance but this is soon to change as The Cold Light of Day sees him kick start a run of 8 movies in the next 18 months with titles including G.I Joe 2, Expendables 2, Kane & Lynch and (yet) another Die Hard movie so is this movie a welcome back to the action roles of old that Willis is so known for?  Well, lets just say that Willis brings to this the same as Seagal bought to Executive Decision - so with that in mind, lets movie swiftly onto the rest of the cast.

I say rest of the cast, predominantly this means Henry Cavill who fresh from playing Theseus in Immortals and a previous 4 year stint in TVs, The Tudors is relatively unknown on such a grand scale so make the most of him as you wont see him on our screen again until the Superman re-make, 'Man of Steel' set for 2013. 

Cavill plays a business consultant - on a trip to begrudgingly see his parents in Spain for a small family reunion.  After a quick pop to the shops, Cavill returns to the family yacht to find it ram sacked and his family missing.  Very soon we discover 'daddy' Willis is not all he appears to be and comes clean as a CIA operative.  Before long its Cavill who has to step up from Consultant to Action Man to secure a briefcase and return it to the Mossad captors in order to secure the release of his family.

As for Cavill himself, well he's pretty good in this and well matched against his worthy adversary in the form of the icy Sigourney Weaver who also plays dodgy spook with immense ease.  Cavill finds solace in a few locals one of whom turns out to be family (which is nice) and what plays out is quite a fast paced thrill ride throughout Madrid with moped chases, bar fights and a few close shaves for Cavill, his helpers and dear old Dad.

Its hard to sum up a movie like this one.  It wont be the best action / spy movie you have ever seen and it just feels like a little stop gap between Summer blockbusters, a 'something for the weekend' but nothing to really write home about.  That doesn't mean its poor, I enjoyed the presence of Willis and Weaver back on the big screen and my official introduction to Cavill as a potential new action hero was definitely well received but something just made me hold back on a full blown gush fest.

Madrid look great shot at a 'thrill ride' pace and the local 'help' compliment the location with superb ease.  As with all great spy movies, you never get to find out whats actually in the sought after briefcase but surely that's half the fun.  its not the longest review but its hopefully got the message across - If all those Easter Eggs are playing on your waist-line then put them down, get in the car and head off to see this for a welcome rest byte.  You could do a lot worse.