A collector�s edition in DVD that is worth every penny!
Here is a disaster flick that puts the audience into a real life situation, which is unique and quite different from the typical action and adventure films. The movie, Daylight, is based on a real life occurrence of a tunnel accident in the late 1940s at the Holland and Lincoln tunnels under the Hudson River. Directed by Rob Cohen, the movie is a visionary masterpiece of a tunnel explosion that brought the whole character set to work together and risk their lives on this horrible disaster situation with the elements of nature involved. The character set is where the true inner beauty of the movie rests. It is one that I describe as not too well known to the public with a notable exception of Sylvester Stalone, who played the lead part. Here, Stalone played a sympathetic character, who brought the survivors to daylight. Although he has the persona of Rocky and Rambo, Stallone was, in the movie, an ordinary citizen who blends perfectly well with the others in the set...
Flames! Explosions! Disaster strikes NY
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...
An under-rated Stallone film
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...
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