Daylight (HD DVD, 2007)

Trucks loaded with toxic waste. A stolen car being pursued by the police. Separate events that come together in a New York city tunnel when the latter crashes into the former starting a chain reaction explosion that sends a fireball sweeping through the tunnel and sealing it at both ends. A handful of survivors are left trapped with burning toxic waste and only enough air to last a few hours. Only a few meters short of entering the tunnel himself, cab driver and disgraced former fire chief Kit Latura recognises a disaster when he sees one and, thanks to a drill he ran years ago, knows that the standard rescue methods will not work. When his replacement dies ignoring his advice, his former colleagues turn to him and he agrees to enter the tunnel and try to rescue the survivors.

From the opening ten minutes we know just where we are. The brief pictures of characters does enough to set up their roles within the disaster genre and it is not long before one massive explosion and we are back in the disaster films that were so popular in the 1970's. To many this will be a bad thing because while meeting all the genre requirements this film also repeats all the old problems as well – I guess it is about what you like, if you like the genre then you'll enjoy this. The plot is the basic stuff, focusing on one small group and throwing up one obstacle after another for them to get over. At each stage we'll have losses, tragic deaths, heroic sacrifice, emotional panic, headstrong jerks etc etc – it does everything you would expect. Of course this also brings with it the problems of being rushed, the characters being cardboard cut outs, the drama being staged and never being able to stop without making things look bad and the fact that the film is a bit too close to being a cloying weepy for comfort.

None of this stops it being exciting enough to be worth seeing though. The modern effects are impressive and the sets etc are convincingly real. The actors hardly have a lot to work with but they do well enough to make it work well. Stallone holds back from being an invincible action man and he is better for it, producing a good lead. The support all fill their genre roles but most of them do it well enough so that they are actually emotionally engaging rather than just being fodder. Hedaya, Sanders, Brenneman, Mortensen and others are all solid enough to make it work – sure they are a bit corny at times but this is more to do with the genre writing than the acting.

Overall this is a disaster movie very much in the genre mould set in the 1970's and it has all the weaknesses you would expect from the genre. The writing is where the clichés come in but these are almost carried by the solid acting and enjoyable special effects. A genre movie then but one that is enjoyable if you like that sort of thing – just don't expect anything original or new and you'll be OK.

It did not play in my HD DVD player, and the wrong movie was sent the first time around.Wasn't a great ebay buy.

I am not a Stallone fan in the least but this one I feel he shined. A commuting tunnel explodes trapping a handful of people down below. As you can imagine the tunnel begins to leak and it's rush for the survivors to stay one foot above the rising waters. Unlike Dante's Peak and inevitably due to Stallone starring, the movie drifts from reality here and there but probably worse at the very end. Would they really have survived that?? Anyway I won't ruin the film for you though it goes without saying our macho he man saves the day and he lives...though he doesn't save everyone!! This is a Keeper!!

I wasn't happy when I put the DVD Day Light into my DVD player. Nothing came up on the screen. One if my players is a Blu-ray, the other is a plane DVD player. Why did I buy it? I liked the price, and the fact it was brand new still inthe wraper.

the listing said it is HD well I have a HD tv a HD dvd player and it's on HDMI cable but it never loads in the player so all I see is blue screen doesn't work I paid for nothing