It is hard to imagine that Cold Comes the Night coincided with the conclusion of Breaking Bad. One had Bryan Cranston giving a career defining closeout performance for one of the most well regarded shows, while the other is Cold Comes the Night. I swear it is almost incomprehensible how these are the same two people. I guess all the good juice got squeezed for Breaking Bad, because Cranston is the weakest link in the cast here.
I would not give the lions share of blame to the actors though. Direction for the movie is very off. The script also does no favors, but execution is the death of it. You can see it in how Alice Eve has a couple of scenes that are obviously in need of another go, while the rest is fine. There is a garage scene and someone is the lookout for Cranston’s Togo, and it may be some of the worst line delivery. Those kind of problems extend to the whole film. Some scenes actually work well and then others are so obviously bad that they felt unguided.
I learned that during the making of Cold Comes the Night, Cranston made a short film, Writers Block by Brandon Polanco, with some of the movie crew during bad weather. Honestly, if you just want some Cranston then watch that. It is very much an art piece, so it will not be for everyone, but it is 12 minutes of Cranston being the best part of something. That is a world I prefer.