Henry Cavill is without a doubt a major star and recognizable name, but it would be hard to justifiably call him a certified action hero, at least based on the evidence presented repeatedly throughout his career.
Sure, he was officially the DCU’s Superman for close to a dozen years after first being announced as the latest incumbent of the costume in January 2011, but Man of Steel was his sole stint in the spotlight. Swords-and-sandals fantasy blockbuster Immortals leaned more on its visuals than his performance, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. flopped at the box office, and the forgotten Night Hunter was quite simply crap.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout is incredible, but he was technically the villain, while The Witcher is a TV series that’s about to lose him as leading man. However, none of Cavill’s runners and gunners compare to the sheer dreadfulness of The Cold Light of Day, his final pre-Superman appearance that rustled up a heinous Rotten Tomatoes score of just four percent.
As a lo-fi thriller from the early 2010s featuring Bruce Willis in a supporting role, expectations should have been set low to begin with, but they still somehow failed to be met. Cavill’s consultant discovers his family have vanished while on vacation, only to be tasked with delivering a missing briefcase within the space of 24 hours or his nearest and dearest will be killed.
Standard fare delivered with precisely zero skill, panache, or excitement, we’re at pains to explain why The Cold Light of Day has risen from the dead on-demand to become one of the biggest hits on Starz, per FlixPatrol. Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle, Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and the Highlander reboot could yet usher in the age of Henry Cavill: Bankable Action Star, but for now the jury remains out.
Published: Jan 1, 2023 01:39 pm