In Cold Light

2025

Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller

Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 54% · 26 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 54%
IMDb Rating 5.5/10 10 175 175

Director

Top cast

Maika Monroe as Ava Bly
Helen Hunt as Claire
Geena Meszaros as Older Amy
720p.WEB
885.69 MB
1280*582
English 2.0
R
us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 36 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by nERDbOX_Dave 3 / 10

A stylish but hollow thriller that leans too heavily on Maika Monroe's presence and not nearly enough on coherent storytelling.

In Cold Light arrives with the kind of pedigree that should make it an easy win: a respected international director making his English-language debut, and the talented Maika Monroe front and center, quite literally, considering she was plastered all over my Regal app like the movie itself knew she was the selling point. And honestly? She is. Unfortunately, she's also carrying almost the entire film on her back.Fresh out of prison, Ava (Monroe) attempts to reclaim her former drug empire, only to be framed for a murder that sends her spiraling into a familiar web of violence, betrayal, and unresolved family trauma. On paper, it's a gritty crime thriller with emotional depth. On screen, it's a film that keeps hinting at meaning without ever doing the work to earn it.We open with Ava strung out, buying drugs moments before a police raid. Smash cut two years later: she's released from prison and immediately struck by unexplained anxiety, vomiting as she changes into her street clothes. It's a moment clearly meant to signal transformation, trauma, or fear, but the film refuses to clarify what it's actually saying.Is Ava reformed?Terrified of relapsing?Haunted by prison?If you're waiting for answers, they technically arrive near the end... but the payoff feels less like revelation and more like the writer dangling a mystery just to pull the rug out later. It's a bait-and-switch, and not a clever one.The bigger issue is that the film never convincingly establishes Ava as a drug lord, or even as a credible threat. We're told she once ran things, but nothing in the opening or her post-release arc supports that idea. So when she sets out to "reclaim her throne," it lands with a thud. There's no sense of power lost, no aura of danger reclaimed, just a character moving from scene to scene because the plot needs her to.That problem extends to nearly everyone around her. Ava's attempt to reconcile with her family goes south quickly, placing her in the crossfire of a hit she's then blamed for. From there, she's on the run, stumbling across a trail of bodies, most of which are killed off-screen. Any potential impact from these deaths is completely deflated because the characters were never established to begin with. For my gamer friends: they don't feel like people so much as NPCs, introduced, dispatched, forgotten.The film features two antagonists, neither of whom ever feel remotely threatening. Bob Whyte, a crooked cop, exists mostly as a concept rather than a character; we never spend enough time with him to understand his motivations or menace. Then there's Claire, positioned as the true power player behind the region's drug operation. She appears briefly in what amounts to a "meeting of the minds" scene that serves no real purpose beyond setting up the ending. Because the film never bothered to lay proper groundwork, it has to scramble for a conclusion and this is what we're left with.And then... it just ends. After a flat, uninspired reveal that should feel seismic but instead feels obligatory.That's the real tragedy of In Cold Light: there are pieces here that could have worked. Maika Monroe remains compelling even when the script lets her down. Troy Kotsur, as Ava's deaf father, brings quiet emotional weight to a role the film barely explores. Helen Hunt is solid, as always, but underused. Director Maxime Giroux shows flashes of visual confidence, but the storytelling never matches the atmosphere.In the end, In Cold Light mistakes mood for substance and ambiguity for depth. It wants to be a gritty, character-driven crime thriller, but without proper setup, meaningful relationships, or earned stakes, it collapses under its own aspirations.
Reviewed by TheMovieSearch 1 / 10

Absolutely, boring film, from the beginning to the end

In Cold Light (2026) is a thriller that promised suspense and intrigue but delivered a long, tedious experience that struggles to engage. The story centers on a young woman entangled in a criminal investigation, leaving viewers uncertain about her guilt and the true sequence of events. While the premise hints at a tense, action-packed ride, the film largely fails to deliver, with over an hour and 40 minutes feeling flat and uneventful.The screenplay is a major weakness. It lacks momentum, cohesion, and any sense of urgency, making the thriller premise feel hollow. Key plot points are underdeveloped, and the pacing drags, leaving the audience disengaged for most of the runtime. The direction compounds these issues, showing little investment in elevating tension or suspense, which are essential to the genre.Performances are unremarkable, with acting that feels stiff and uninspired. Characters lack depth and relatability, making it difficult to connect with their predicaments or care about the story's outcome. Even potentially compelling moments are rendered inert due to the flat execution.Visually, the film is uninspired, with no striking cinematography or stylistic choices to elevate the material. Scenes feel generic and fail to capture the suspense or danger that the premise promises.Overall, In Cold Light feels more like a streaming project than a theatrical release. Its slow pacing, lackluster performances, and disengaging screenplay make it a difficult watch. It's a film that struggles to justify its existence, leaving audiences bored rather than thrilled, and it fails to leave any lasting impression.
Reviewed by cmorr-00443 1 / 10

In Cold Light

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