In Cold Light stars Maika Monroe as Ava. She’s just been released from prison for selling (and using) drugs. She wants to go right back into business with her old gang but runs into a situation that has her running for her life through most of this thriller.

In Cold Light is set in a dark, gritty world of danger and crime. Maika Monroe plays Ava as hard and brittle, but by the end we see what she will give for family.

Ava returns home to her father Will (Troy Kotsur). He doesn’t want her around and tells her twin brother Tom (Jesse Irving) to get her out of the house in 10 minutes.

Will is deaf, a has-been rodeo rider who still works in the rodeo world. Ava gets a job working at the crap jobs around the rodeo grounds and barns as a condition of her parole. She finds her brother and her old gang of drug dealers in their hidden location behind a legitimate store. She wants back in.

Things have changed in the two years she’s been gone and the men don’t want her back in and running things. There’s a rival gang in town led by the mysterious Claire (Helen Hunt). Her gang is trying to run their gang out of business.

The rival gang has a cop in their pocket because he approaches Ava and Tom in their truck and tries to kill them both. Ava is only slightly wounded and runs. The cop blames her for Tom’s death. She’s running through dark streets and deserted buildings for the rest of the movie trying to stay alive. She keeps returning to homes and places where she’s known, which seems foolish with people chasing her. But she has important reasons for going there.

One important reason is Tom’s infant daughter, named Amy after Ava’s mother. Tom, his wife, and anyone who might care for the baby are dead. Ava takes Amy to her dad. They have a long-needed conversation in sign language standing outside under a motion activated porch light. They have to keep waving their arms above their heads to turn on the light so they can talk.

Ava goes to see Claire to make a deal for her dad and Amy’s lives. The way it all works out we are lead to realize that under Ava’s hard criminal exterior she has a good heart and will sacrifice for her family. Yay Ava. Fade to black.

This was not the best thriller I’ve seen. Nor the worst. It followed the standard format of misunderstood hero on the run from bad guys while trying to save their loved ones. Maika Monroe is good at this kind of action. She can make you believe she’s tough enough, even while running on empty, to do anything necessary.

In Cold Light is streaming on Hulu/Disney+. Have you seen it? What did you think about it?