Plot: What’s it about?
The Holland Tunnel is traveled by a huge volume of motorists every day, with no problems on most days outside of some congestion and traffic. But when a band of diamond thieves head to the tunnel in order to evade the police, the tunnel will turn into the most dangerous place in the world, at least for those inside. The thieves are panicked and in their quest to elude capture, wind up crashing into a small convoy of trucks. The trucks happen to be hauling toxic waste, so upon impact, an explosion rocks the tunnel and sealing off both ends. That means for those in between that survived, the tunnel has turned into a fiery, toxic passage that holds them captive with death looming in the coming hours. As more explosions go off, oxygen begins to be depleted, and flood waters start to rise, the situation seems beyond hopeless. But if anyone can hold the group together, its former emergency medical expert Kit Latura (Sylvester Stallone). But thanks to a botched situation of his own, he now drives a limo instead of saving lives. Will anyone be able to survive and once again see Daylight?
This is a Sylvester Stallone movie, so you might assume Daylight is an all out action picture, but that isn’t the case. The movie does have explosions, tension, danger, and life and death situations, but this film is more about survival than action set pieces. I’ve seen this movie a few times and while I wouldn’t call Daylight a good movie, it has its moments. I’m a huge fan of survival horror, where a group of folks (often strangers) are forced to hold off impending doom and hope beyond hope for an escape. While Daylight is not a horror movie in that sense, it does have the same kind of concept. So for me, the survival aspect made for solid entertainment and to be honest, the two hours were quite brisk. Stallone is his usual self, but he handles the role well and he is surrounded by a more than capable supporting cast. All in all, the film might not be high art or what not, but it does provide some thrills and makes a great rental
Video: How does it look?
The film is nearly three decades old and while we tend to expect every movie to shine like new in 4K, that isn’t always the case. I would label the image here is acceptable, as it does look solid, but it lacks the depth and polish we’ve come to expect from high definition releases. The visuals look better than the standard Blu-ray, but the image is still on the soft side and doesn’t have that brighter, more refined texture we expect. Colors look on the bland side and contrast is a touch weak, not the kind of presentation we want. It’s a good upgrade, for sure, but given the dark nature of the film it leaves it wide open for some fairly noticeable errors.
Audio: How does it sound?
We get a DTS HD Master Audio mix and while the explosions won’t deafen you and the surrounds or pulse with high end sound design, the experience is still solid. The surrounds are active, especially in the more tense sequences, so you’ll feel the explosions and more importantly, the atmosphere. The music sounds good too, with a lot of life and aside from a few muffled vocals, the dialogue is clean and clear throughout. It’s a nice, passable mix that’s certain to please.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Most of the supplements from Universal’s Blu-ray have made the leap to this 4K disc except for The Daylight Archives. So if that was a deal-breaker for you…sorry.
- Audio Commentary – Rob Cohen provides his director’s perspective in a commentary track, in which he details the technical process used to make each scene come to life. This means he shares a lot of production details, but with a technical slant and as such, some will be bored by his approach. So if you’re more into anecdotes and personal memories, you’ll want to skip it, but if you love technical insight, don’t miss this session.
- The Making of Daylight – This is a solid look inside the production, but I preferred the technical information as opposed to the overly promotional interviews
- EPK Featurette – They don’t get more generic than this, both in the name of the feature and what’s contained within. Playing out like a glorified trailer, this has some quips from Stallone and Cohen along with some “behind the scenes” footage.
- Music Video – “Whenever There Is Love” by Donna Summer and Bruce Roberts
- Theatrical Trailers
The Bottom Line
A decade and a half before The Expendables, Stallone was still making $20 million a movie for films like this, Cliffhanger and others. It’s got a decent cast of some then unknown, but now familiar faces, but overall it fell a bit flat. Kino’s 4K disc improves the video by a little and has a solid audio track along with a smattering of supplements.
