WHO’S IN IT?
Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus), Ursula Parker (Rabbit Hole), Leo Fitzpatrick (Kids), Erin Cummings (The Iceman)
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Tze Chun (Children of Invention), director, co-writer; Osgood Perkins and Nick Simon (Removal), co-writers; Mynette Louie (California Solo) and Trevor Sagan (Children of Invention), producers; Jeff Grace (Meek’s Cutoff), composer; Noah Rosenthal (Fat Kid Rules The World), cinematographer; Paul Frank (The To Do List), editor
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Chloe (Eve) is a struggling motel owner who has social services breathing down her neck, threatening to take away her daughter Sophia (Parker) if she is not moved to a safer environment. However, a near-blind Polish criminal named Topo (Cranston) takes them hostage and forces Chloe to be his eyes as he attempts to reclaim his money from a corrupt cop (Marshall-Green)…
WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?
If there’s one actor nowadays whose versatile approach to different projects is vast and unpredictable, it’s Bryan Cranston. The man who once was Malcolm’s dad in hit TV sitcom Malcolm in the Middle has since gone on to appear in films vastly different every time, from Little Miss Sunshine to Argo to Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, and of course his new signature television role as drug lord Walter White in Breaking Bad. And with every role he takes on, the more incredible and awesome he looks – and if those rumours about him portraying Lex Luthor in Man of Steel 2 are true, then we are in for his most iconic film performance to date. But just as Breaking Bad sadly comes to an end at the end of this month, Cranston has another film role to share with the world, and it is just as out there as you could have probably figured out already.
Playing a Polish criminal whose eyesight is going if not gone already, Cranston portrays the villain role in Cold Comes The Night opposite Alice Eve in the real lead role. Eve, who this year is already at the centre of controversy for her gratuitous appearance in Star Trek Into Darkness, also holds her own as a single mother juggling her parenting responsibilities with looking after her young daughter. The film also features Discount Tom Hardy Logan Marshall-Green, fresh from being a scientist that acts like a horny teenager in Prometheus, as a crooked policeman who serves as a catalyst for the film’s events.
Even though the latter two have in the past proved to hold their own well enough, the biggest drawing point is probably Cranston in what if effectively a B-movie mixed with a small ensemble piece. Director and co-writer Tze Chun seems to have craftily made a thriller movie that packs a great deal of excitement and tension while keeping the overall feel of things small and, ironically, uneventful, which is exactly Cranston’s recent comfort zone in TV Land so he should feel right at home with Cold Comes The Night.
But star power shouldn’t define going to see this movie entirely, because it does seem to be a highly entertaining thriller-drama anyway. Chun’s previous work on the multi-award winning indie Children of Invention was praised by many critics and of course won a good few prizes at various film festivals, so he definitely has the potential to double his luck with his sophomore film, which characteristically has gone (slightly) bigger in terms of story and cast than the debut.
Whether Cold Comes The Night will continue Chun’s breakthrough into the big, bright world of filmmaking or have it trip and fall is still up in the air, but its engaging storyline and winning cast members should convince you that it’s worth seeing after all.
