Daylight - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

We’ve seen luxury cruise ships capsize. We’ve seen a luxury high-rise turn into a fiery apocalypse. We’ve seen massive earthquakes devastate entire cities. But have we seen dozens of people trapped in a commuter tunnel hundreds of feet below a river? Back in 1996, Rob Cohen and Sylvester Stallone teamed up to give us the latest spin on the apocalyptic survival subgenre with Daylight. It certainly is an exhilarating feature with some great setups and decent performances, but the film can’t quite overcome some hacky characters and plot conveniences. But then who watches a movie like Daylight for textured four-quadrent filmmaking?

Transporting illegal toxic waste isn’t a good idea. Transporting it through the tunnel under the Hudson is another stupid idea - especially when a gang of thieves are driving like a bunch of dickheads during their high-speed escape. When those reckless thieves smash into the transport truck, the toxic waste ignites creating a massive explosion that seals the tunnel at both ends. Now it’s up to former EMS Chief Kit Latura (Sylvester Stallone) to save the day. With a band of juvenile offenders (including Sage Stallone), the famous outdoorsman Nord (Viggo Mortensen), a small family (Jay O Sanders, Karen Young, and Danielle “Halloween” Harris), a tunnel cop (Stan Shaw), and washed-out playwright Madelyne (Amy Brenneman), Kit will have to work against time to get these people to safety before the tunnel collapses.

Daylight isn’t complicated. It’s not overly elaborate. It’s the sort of action freight train you get your brain out of the way of and enjoy it for what it is - big dumb summer movie fun. It’s not a smart film, but a clever one, and sometimes clever is enough to get the job done. In keeping with disaster survival genre films great and small, characterizations are relatively thin. They’re the placeholder variety so you get what you need to know about them so you feel bad if a good one dies or a bit relieved if a schmuck gets what's coming. At the same time, Daylight could have used a little extra oomph in that department for its leading man. 

Stallone dives into the fray essentially replaying a version of his time as Gabe Walker from Cliffhanger. He’s the guy who knows what to do, but for some weird reason he’s not the first man EMS calls when the crap hits the ventilation fan. There's a lot of time wasted of him "proving" he's the guy when he's always going to be the guy. It’s just one of those odd plot contrivances designed to set up some sort of tension but never lasts past the second reel. As part of Stallone’s mid-90s “Meh” period (The Specialist, Judge Dredd, & Assassins) Daylight was a return to form for the action star. No guns, just brawn, and his leading-man personality commanding the scene.

Ever the journeymen director, Rob Cohen keeps the energy up and the pace moving. Again that may sacrifice characterization and drama, but the benefit is the inertia a film of this sort needs to hold your attention. I’ve never thought Daylight was a great film, but it was a fun one. I have fond memories of catching it in theaters when I was 14, I kept up with it here and there on home video, and now it’s here on 4K. Not the best Stallone film, not the greatest most memorable action flick of that decade, but I was happy to see it still holds up and was an entertaining way to spend a Saturday evening. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Daylight explodes onto 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. The 4K is pressed on a BD100 disc with a Region A BD50 serving 1080p and bonus features. The discs are housed in a standard two-disc black case with identical slipcover artwork. The discs load to static image main menus with basic navigation options. 

Note - for whatever reason this title along with Dante’s Peak is in something of a release limbo. Dante’s Peak was scheduled to release a while back, this one has now gone MIA even after a few discs trickled out to reviewers and retailers. It's not "canceled" only "delayed." Once we know for sure what’s going on and/or when this title will be back up for order, we’ll update this review ASAP. 

As a mid-90s action effects extravaganza, Daylight makes a decent candidate for a 2160p Dolby Vision transfer. I say "decent" because the mixture of CGI and practical model and optical effects don’t always blend smoothly. There are a few rough establishing shots of the chaos above ground, the initial explosion, and then the watery climax are a mishmash of effects that don’t exactly leap off the screen. There are a couple of other sequences too like when Kit makes his initial jump into the vent that just doesn’t quite pop to 2160p very cleanly. The finale when our survivors are floating in the water still looks incredibly rough. However, the rest of the film looks quite good with rich details for facial features, mid-90s clothing, and the collapsing tunnel set design. Given the film’s location, the colors are more of a fiery orange variety with lots of shadows and dark spots. Not much room for primary colors to pop but they're not overly saturated or dulled to oblivion. Skin tones are healthy and human. Generally, it looks very good and the Dolby Vision grade lets these highlight areas pop. I hadn’t seen this in a while, at least a few years, so pulling my old Blu-ray off the shelf I was surprised to see how well this disc turned out. I’d forgotten how mud that old VC-1-encoded disc looked. This release won’t win awards for perfection, there are a couple of odd artifacts here and there, but nothing egregious for an overall solid upgrade.

On the audio side, Daylight shines with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. A 2.0 track is also included but I truthfully didn’t spend much time with it. I replayed a couple of scenes but that was all - it serves a purpose but I don’t see much need for that track after the 5.1. This track does sound a little reworked than the old 2011 Blu-ray - not a dramatic overhaul but enough to give more impact and spread through the soundscape. Dialog is clear without issue. During the big explosions and the blowout escape sequence at the end, there’s plenty of impact and whirling activity for some nice wall-to-wall immersion. A good chunk hits mostly in the front/center, but that spread kicks in when/where we need it. All around a good track that handles the workload well.

On the bonus features side we have a selection of archival extras. Pretty much everything that was here on the old Blu-ray return for this edition. The only thing that’s “new” is the collection of additional KLSC trailers. Otherwise we get the same solid Rob Cohen commentary, the old making-of, the EPK, the music video - all of it. 

4K UHD 

• Audio Commentary featuring Rob Cohen

Blu-ray

• Audio Commentary featuring Rob Cohen
• The Making of Daylight (SD 33:28)
• EPK Featurette (SD 6:26)
• Whenever There is Love - Donna Summer & Bruice Roberts Music Video (SD 4:31)
• Trailer 1
• Trailer 2
• KLSC Trailer Gallery:
• Dante’s Peak
• Turbulence
• F.I.S.T.

Daylight wasn’t the greatest Stallone film of the 90s - that’d be Cliffhanger or Demolition Man. Nor was it the worst Stallone film of the 90s - that’d be Rocky V and The Specialist. No, Daylight is among that stretch of unremarkable middling mid-90s films with Stallone as the headliner. He’s in better form here than he was in The Specialist, but that’s not saying a whole lot. The film itself checks the disaster survival checklist, nothing exactly “new” beyond the location and circumstances. With that in mind, Rob Cohen at least keeps the action moving and that’s what counts. It’s not an amazing film, but it’s far from dull. On 4K, Kino Lorber Studio Classics delivers a solid Dolby Vision transfer, clean 5.1 mix to match, with a decent selection of archival extras. We still don’t fully understand why this disc has been delayed (NOT CANCELED) but it has been for the time being even though some copies have trickled out to various retailers. Once it gets out there and is widely available, go ahead and consider this release Recommended - but please don’t go scrounging the gray market. The disc is still coming, and there’s no reason to pay those silly prices on eBay or anywhere else. It’s Daylight for crying out loud. Do you really want to admit to family and friends you dropped a C-note or more for this movie? Didn't think so. Be patient and you'll get your disc soon enough