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Festivale Summer 1996 (Reviews Jan, 1996)

Daylight comes

Daylight is an action adventure film with a difference. Virtually all of the action takes place in a tunnel under a river. Sylvester Stallone plays the lead with a good supporting cast portraying a range of characters trapped together with only their survival in common. The main players are introduced during the opening sequences as they progress through the course of their normal day, and in some cases, their normal day is something I would not rather have to live through!

The premise of the story is that of an accident taking place in a tunnel under a river. It is peak hour, thousands of people are trying to get home, the tunnel is packed. In the tunnel, there are a number of trucks transporting explosive toxic chemicals, there is also a speeding car carrying four people that have just pulled off a jewel robbery, stolen a car with a highly sophisticated anti-theft device and are being chased by the police. Rather than give up, they flee into the tunnel, at high speed, career around a number of cars before losing control and crashing into the back of one of the trucks. The explosion that results is magnified by being confined, it takes out the other two trucks and the resulting fireball expands in both directions, causing both ends of the tunnel to collapse and weakening the structure in the middle.

There are a number of survivors inside the tunnel. A young woman who has not been able to make it as a writer in New York and was heading home. An elderly couple with their dog, who has just come from a visit to an animal psychiatrist. A relatively young family with a daughter who would rather not be there. A young adventurer/company owner whose business in mountaineering equipment is not as successful as he would like. A lone member of the city traffic patrol that runs the tunnels and four survivors from a prison transport.

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The people outside the tunnel who become involved are the Emergency Medical Teams (EMT), the city councillors and the organisation that runs the tunnels in and out of New Your city. Sylvester Stallone is the ex head of the EMT. Some time in the recent past, he was responsible for some deaths during an emergency, after all the flack had died down, he was out on the street, driving cabs. However, he can no more stop trying to assist after the disaster than he can stop breathing. It is this tenaciousness that will eventually lead him to entering the tunnel through an unlikely route and doing his best to save the people trapped in the tunnel. The film moves from crisis to crisis, as is expected. However, the manner in which the crises are resolved will leave you on the edge of your seat. At no stage is it certain that all will survive. There are a number of heroics by the least people throughout. The aspiring writer grabbing live wires before they electrify and kill the occupant of the prison van is where it starts. Her courage shows up at other times, when you least expect. The melding of the survivors into a team from a group of individuals has to be seen to be believed ... and strangely enough, it works!! The team approach keeps them alive for much longer that they would have survived as individuals. This is a movie that really needs to be seen more than once. There is so much going on that at times it is very difficult to keep up with it, not just in what is happening, but also in the dialogue between the characters, both in the tunnel and outside.

	Richard Hryckiewicz See also: Cop Land For credits and official site details, click here. Search Festivale for more
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Movie images, sounds, and video clips are solely owned by their respective companies. No other uses are permitted without the prior written consent of owner. Use of the material in violation of the foregoing may result in civil and/or criminal penalties. disclaimer Festivale Online Magazine Celebrate everything! www.festivale.info ISSN 1328-8008 Published in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia disclaimers | contact the editor | Festivale revision history Filed 29-Nov-1996 Last tested: 3-Jul-2014 Last Compiled: 3-Jul-2014 Entire site refreshed: Dec 2008-Feb 2009 | Site URL transferred: Jan 2005 (previously www.festivale.webcentral.com.au)