Bruce Willis and Henry Cavill in "The Cold Light of Day"; photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment

“The Cold Light of Day” (Summit Entertainment)

“The Cold Light of Day” is a movie that came out of nowhere. It just appeared at a few theaters with no fanfare and very little publicity overall. Since it stars Bruce Willis, Sigourney Weaver and Henry Cavill (the new “Superman”) you would have thought it would have caused more of a stir. But it didn’t. It will probably fade away before you even get a chance to see it and that’s a shame. It isn’t the best movie out there but it is a fairly entertaining one.

The plot concerns a young man named Will (Cavill) who goes to Spain to meet his parents and brother for a vacation. His father Martin (Willis) is employed by the government and the family moved around a good bit when Will was growing up. This appears to have caused some sort of rift between father and son but Will’s mother (Caroline Goodall) is trying to smooth things over.

One day Will swims from the family boat to the shore and goes into town. When he gets ready to return he cannot locate the boat. After a lengthy search he finds it in a cove of sorts and swims out to it. It is empty and it looks like there has been a struggle. The police are no help so Will goes off on his own to find his family.

When he finds out they have been kidnapped it sets off the usual car chases and gunfights that movies like this thrive upon. The photography in the chase sequences is enjoyable but the gunfights are the type where the good guys cannot be hit by a million shots but the bad guys can.

Cavill is pretty good in his role as the unwilling hero. His good looks and acting ability bode well for the new “Superman” movie. Willis has a rather small role in the film and he underplays his character to such an extent that his impact is negligible. Veronicas Echequi plays Lucia the girl with whom Will becomes involved. She is a bright spot in the movie.

The big surprise in the cast is Weaver. It is not giving much away to say she is the villain of the piece. That is evident early on. She throws herself into the role of Carrack and plays her with gleeful abandon. She seems to relish every evil action her character takes and so does the audience. It is an unexpected and delightful performance.

The movie is rated PG-13 for violence and profanity.

“The Cold Light of Day” isn’t the greatest movie ever made but it is a fairly enjoyable one. I found it worth seeing just for Weaver’s performance. Who knew she could be so good at being bad!

I scored “The Cold Light of Day” a chilly 5 out of 10.