Daylight

Directed by Rob Cohen, Daylight follows several characters, including Sylvester Stallone’s Kit, Amy Brenneman’s Madelyne, and Viggo Mortensen’s Roy, as they find themselves trapped within a New York tunnel after a deadly explosion. Filmmaker Cohen, working from a script by Leslie Bohem, does a fantastic job of initially luring the viewer into the admittedly erratic proceedings, as Daylight kicks off with a compelling opening that effectively establishes the myriad of protagonists and the manner by which they converge on that aforementioned tunnel – with the effectiveness of this stretch heightened by the strong work of a fairly stacked roster of performers. (It’s clear, too, that the picture benefits from Cohen’s superb handling of the disaster itself, as the prolonged sequence is as visceral and exciting as one might’ve hoped.) There’s little doubt, then, that Daylight‘s overall impact is dulled by a midsection that couldn’t possibly be more hit and miss, as the film’s been saddled with an overlong running time that paves the way for a somewhat repetitive midsection riddled with ineffective elements – with this reflected most keenly in the ongoing emphasis on the survivors’ rather tedious bickering. The exciting climax ensures that the whole thing concludes on a fairly positive note, however, which ultimately does cement Daylight‘s place as a solid entry within the disaster-movie canon.

**1/2 out of ****