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Daylight Stars: Sylvester Stallon and Amy Brenneman Director: Rob Cohen BBFC Certificate: 12 Opened: 26th Secember 1996 Running Time: 110 mins |
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The cinema is well overdue for a decent disaster movie, not since the days of The Poseidon Adventure
and Towering Inferno have we been witness to the amazing endeavours of one man trying to rescue
a whole load of stereotypes from the nightmarish consequences of some act of God. But now, just in the nick of time
to be put on the 1996 list of films comes Rob Cohen's Daylight, a story of how one man, albeit one who looks like a
fifty-year old, rescues a whole bunch of - yup, you guessed it, shockingly transparent stereotypes from a collapsed tunnel.
What plot there is needs little explanation: Several 'people' (read poorly-played stereotypes), to whom we are introduced at the beginning of the film become trapped in a fire filled, soon to be flooded, collapsed tunnel between Manhattan Island and mainland New York (the Holland tunnel to be precise), when a stolen car plows into the back of a truck filled with frighteningly explosive chemicals, setting off the most over-the-top, drawn out explosion since Independence Day. Cue disgraced city EMS chief Kit Latura (Stallone) who, after climbing through a series of unnecessarily large fans emerges in the tunnel and proceeds to lead the assembled cross-section of the populace to safety. Along the way, as is a pre-requisite of all disaster movies, they lose several of their number; but not, of course, our square-jawed hero, or the young bit off totty he's had his eye on for most of the film. Stallone claimed that for him, this film marked a departure from the days of Rocky and Rambo and the beginning of a new direction to his career in which he would play more 'thinking-men's heros'. Surprisingly Stallone carries this type of role of rather well and, though subtitles are still required at some points in the movie as Stallone's trademark drawl becomes incomprehensible, he seems to suit more mellow, considered heroes. Brenneman too looks comfortable in her role as sidekick to Stallone, the aforementioned totty, and a struggling writer who is the first to come to terms with the reality of the situation in which she finds herself, The film's action sequences too are well planned and easy to follow, a bit of underwater swimming here, dodging a rolling tanker there, you know the kind of stuff, but they lack a certain edge which makes the best disaster movies truly nail biting. The plot is somewhat too simple, despite the mild distraction of an exceedingly cheesy subplot revolving around a trapped security guard and his would-be-fiance who is safe and well outside. Daylight is a competent film and one that is worth seeing, especially if you're a fan of disaster movies, but it lacks a certain savoir faire and leaves the impression that it could have been a fair sight better. Reviewed by: Tom Green
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