Daylight | | Cast : | Sylvester Stallone | | Director : | Rob Cohen | | Studio : | Universal Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | December 06, 1996 | | DVD Released Date : | August 24, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), Japanese (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 04, 2005 | | Summary | ROCKY GOES UNDERGROUND | Content
 | DAYLIGHT is everything you'd expect it to be as it joins the genre of disaster films of the seventies. Sylvester Stallone is a noble, almost saintly, hero, and we get a mixed bag of trapped people in the Holland Tunnel. Director Rob Cohen wisely focuses on the disaster and its aftermath and leaves the stereotypical characters to respond in expected ways. But what a cataclysmic set of special effects! The car crashes and resultant explosions are terrific and incredibly filmed. That alone is one reason to watch the film. Much of Stallone's heroics are implausible, but in a film like this, we are indeed holding out for a hero. The supporting cast is eclectic and adequate: a pre Lord of the Rings Viggo Mortensen is some kind of adventurer whose self-importance is his downfall; Jay O. Sanders, Karen Young and Danielle Harris are the troubled family; Stan Shaw is the heroic but doomed cop; Dan Hedaya is the loyal ex-partner; Amy Brenneman is the frustrated writer who becomes Stallone's romantic interest; the lovely Claire Bloom and Colin Fox are the elderly couple with the dog; and even Stallone's son, Sage, gets in on the action. Nothing new here, folks, but it is well done and the effects are awesome. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 03, 2005 | | Summary | Flames! Explosions! Disaster strikes NY | Content
| Daylight is a traditional "disaster in New York" story, with Sylvester Stallone playing the fired Chief who redeems himself by saving people from a tunnel collapse. Given that short blurb, you can probably now plot out the entire movie, from start to finish :)
First, you go through the traditional "meet all the characters" scenes. There are fractured families, an older couple, a young struggling author, a prison transport. Throw in some unscrupulous toxic chemical transporters and a trio of insane diamond thieves, and the disaster is telegraphed from the beginning. There's no surprise, and no sense of "story" as it begins. It is very blatantly a "let's see each person start as selfish / uncaring so we can watch them grow".
Then BOOM! One thing you can say for this movie is that it has some pretty cool special effects. The scenes of the fiery blast shooting through the tunnel and taking it down are pretty impressive. We went back on the DVD and watched that part again. Even while we were watching it, though, we were pretty incredulous that anybody in that blast would have survived enough to let the movie continue. We've seen enough disaster recreations on TV to know what that type of fireball does to people. But of course, this is Hollywood, and while most people are completely slain, you end up with about 12 people trapped within the tunnel who are all perfectly able to walk and talk. There's nobody in between. Hmmmmmm.
While Stallone goes through some insanely silly moves through moving fans to get IN to the troubled group, Viggo Mortensen gets his moment to shine as Nord (yes, that's really his name), the mountain climber / rich company leader. Nord is shown as a blondeish (of course) super-sure-of-himself man who has taken on every challenge in life. Luckily, Nord is trapped in the tunnel with all his rock climbing equipment. So he tells everyone he is going to save them, tells them to pray, and heads up into a shaft to climb out. Stallone tries to warn Nord that the shaft is shaky, and for some boneheaded reason, Nord's response is "don't worry, I'm invincible!" OK, he doesn't quite say that, but he doesn't pay attention to the creaks and groans of the area around him. It is really hard to believe that someone as successful as Nord in extreme situations would have possible not gone more cautiously into this current one. Sure enough, Stallone is correct, Nord is squished, and Viggo's light is put out.
Stallone then quickly goes on to do even MORE ridiculous things than Nord was attempting, but of course being the hero, Stallone's various efforts work out pretty nicely.
I realize of course that the movie aims to show how everyone deals with stress poorly and then finally bands together as a team to help each other out, but it was REALLY annoying how certain characters kept turning into insane complainers. Sure, there will be one or two whiners in a crowd. But I think it was way overblown here. Instead of having the movie one where we could sympathize with the characters going "against the odds" - you really wanted to see most of the characters killed off. Quickly. Surprisingly, they really do kill off far more characters than one would expect in a movie like this.
But, of course, the Guy Gets the Girl, and enough people survive to make the whole ordeal worth it. Unfortunately, the movie ends with perhaps one of the worst ending lines ever made in a movie. You'll have to wait and judge that one for yourself.
A fun disaster flick with some great fiery moments - just don't expect compelling character development or much of a plot in this one. And as a safety note, contrary to what the movie says, the reason you want to be in a car during an electrical storm is NOT that the tires are rubber. Studies show that the amount of rubber on a tire is completely meaningless when compared with a bolt of lightning. It's the metal cage of the car that protects you from the electrical strike. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 04, 2005 | | Summary | Just for the HOLLAND TUNNLE alone! | Content
| I literally live right next to the Holland Tunnle so I had to give this 5 stars even though it's your basic hollywood wizz bang flick with bad acting. Great special effects! |
| Rating | | | Date | April 02, 2005 | | Summary | Great Special EFX | Content
| Recently, I picked up the DTS version at a bargain price. Since there are plenty of reviews, I will keep this short. The special effects (EFX) are sensational. I watched this movie in the past and thought it was OK. Now that I viewed this movie through my home theater, I rate it a 5.
The video transfer is fantastic and the 5.1 sound is superior. There is excellent usage of the low bass and the surround speakers. This will give your home theater a work out. The movie is a definite purchase for the 5.1 surround sound value.
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| Rating | | | Date | April 02, 2005 | | Summary | An under-rated Stallone film | Content
| To date, there exists three films with great performances by Sylvester Stallone: "Rocky" (of course), "First Blood," and "Cop Land." These three films stand alone because Stallone put himself entirely behind the characters, going so far, in the case of "Cop Land," to gain fifty pounds for the role. This is a man who can write, direct, and act. So why does he make so many bad films? Why did he, like Jean Claude Van Damme, die the straight-to-video death? It's an interesting question. But it's one that I do not have the answer to. Maybe "Rocky VI" needs to be about Stallone beating up his agents.
In any case, with so many bad films on his record, Sylvester Stallone manages to keep getting overlooked for any other achievement that doesn't have the trademark of "Rocky" or "Rambo." In 1995, he decided to make a different kind of action film. Under the direction of Rob Cohen, Stallone abandoned the shoot-to-kill image to play a former EMT Chief turned New York City cabbie. It was a wise choice.
The plot: Two trucks carrying toxic waste are traveling through the Holland Tunnel to Jersey when a group of thieves, hauling some serious buns, cause an accident to ignite the chemicals on the trucks. "Boom" is too light of a word to describe what happens next. The tunnel collapses at both ends. A wall of flame engulfs the tunnel "Independence Day"-style, leaving maybe a dozen people alive inside with a chemical fire burning up what oxygen is left to breathe. Stallone's character, Kit Latura, is present just outside the tunnel when the blast hits. He snaps back into the mindset of a paramedic and begins to save lives. As it becomes clear to the city engineers and emergency crew on the scene that a traditional rescue operation won't work, Latura is given clearance to enter the tunnel through the ventilation system.
Pretty standard action stuff so far. As the film progresses, it's Stallone's interaction with the survivors in the tunnel that begins to elevate it above clichéd action film junk. The people inside are just normal people in an extraordinary situation: Sometimes they don't act how we would like to think we would, and sometimes they go above and beyond the call of human nature to help each other. There are some real inspirational moments in "Daylight," boosted further by an emotional score by Randy Edelman. These are the moments you will remember after the credits roll.
There is also a moment allowed to Stallone, famous for these types of scenes, when he lets loose. In "Rocky," it was the scene when Rocky yells at his trainer, hitting the door, screaming about the cleanliness of his apartment. In "First Blood," it was a monologue about the horrors of Vietnam. In "Daylight," he is fed up with his own search for redemption, and is fully ready to embrace death as he plunges an explosive into the mud of the Hudson River. There is something to be said about an actor who manages not to look ridiculous when he rambles on for minutes on end in front of the camera. Stallone inhabits this kind of character monologue with a raw energy that brings him a strange grace as an actor.
"Daylight" may not be a great film, but it's a good one, and it shows that Sylvester Stallone may not be as big of a failure without Rocky as most people think. |
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