Director: Tze Chun
Cast: Alice Eve, Bryan Cranston, Logan Marshall-Green.
Time: 90 Minutes.
Rating: 15
Synopsis: Chloe (Alice Eve) is a single mother who is struggling financially and emotionally and runs a shady motel on her own. When a homicide takes place in one of the rooms, one of her guests Topo (Bryan Cranston) finds himself without a driver and will have to team up with Chloe to retrieve lost money that he has to deliver to his bosses and save their lives.
Chloe has been instructed by social services to leave the motel if she wants to have custody of her daughter due to its inappropriate environment. The one thing which is keeping Chloe from leaving the motel is money. The only thing which is stopping Topo to deliver the money which meant to be delivered to his bosses but got lost in the homicide investigation is his eye sight, or lack of it. Chloe is first held hostage by Topo to ensure he has a set of eyes, but then she quickly sees a way where they can both benefit from helping each other out. She is hoping that she gets paid at the end because her motel turned brothel isn’t giving her enough of an income.
What saves the film of being boring as well as underwhelming are the tremendous performances by Cranstone, Eve and Logan Marshall-Green who plays Billy; a corrupt married police man in a dysfunctional friendship with Chloe. Eve has chosen the right part to shed her good looks acting and assert herself as a serious actress. Chloe’s greed, desperation, determination and ultimately ruthlessness is what keeps the movie going and it is seen in her delivery, her body language and in her eyes. Although Cranston has been acting for decades now, it’s only recently and through his role in Breaking Bad that he has received the attention he deserves. Despite putting on a questionable and slightly ridiculous accent he’s convincing as a hit-man/all around gangster’s helper who is hired for his experience and skills.
Despite what may seem as an original tale, COLD COMES THE NIGHT is too predictable and there are limited surprises. It is not only the execution of the film which disappoints, but the flawed plot prevails in too many scenes and actions which make little to no sense. What should be 90 minutes of suspense and intensity turns into a too long story about a series of unfortunate events, forced coincidences andsetbacks.
COLD COMES THE NIGHT is an interesting and engaging take on how money can be the only thing standing between being evil and being good. Unfortunately the moral dilemma which becomes the theme of the film is not enough to move COLD COMES THE NIGHT up to an engaging film and remains lukewarm.
COLD COMES THE NIGHT is out in UK cinemas on the 20th of September.
