The Posiedon Adventure turned inside out.
This movie is action porno. If you had this tape loaded in your VCR, you would be fast-forwarding thru the dippy dialogue in order to get to the action sequences. And even then....
There are movies which may or may not be held as great in the public's eye, but they contain action sequences which are so spectacular that it is worth it to suffer thru the flick to get to them. Such as:
To that list now add this movie's whole reason for being: bad guys zooming thru the tunnel set off a fireball which engulfs everything in its path. Folks, it's a jaw-dropper. It puts the "special" in special F/X.
But once the catastrophe happens, it's time for Stallone to arrive on scene. And at this point the movie rapidly falls apart. We're subjected to the ancillary characters and their pointless dialogue as they whine, scream, pout and yell about their plight.
We have these plug 'n' play stereotypes:
Stallone somambulates thru the movie. He says his lines with all the conviction of a used car saleman who doesn't care if he gets a commission or not. He does have to swim, crawl, climb thru the damnedest sets to earn his pay. Which I'm sure was quite a wad of cash for this effort.
Since the movie had such a spectacular opening, there was no way for it to top it. And it doesn't. There's one crisis after another, but it all plays so trivial after the stellar blow-up sequence.
Movie is just as ridiculous as The Abyss at having people exposed to freezing water with no effect whatsoever. (Stallone at one point mentions how the water is 38 degrees.) The actors spend their time constantly wet or in the water as if it's a trip to a communal bathtub. Don't know about you but if it was me, then my hands would be so numb I could barely move them. Plus I'd be shivvering to beat the band.
Daylight does deserve special recognition for its absolutely spectacular Lincoln Tunnel set. Its sheer size and set decoration of broken concrete, busted walls, smashed staircases makes you truly believe they are there. (The set was done in Italy.) Big kudos for all involved in the set production.
Then it comes time for the water to come pouring in. You sit there and ask yourself, My god, how did they do this? There are umpteen tons of water gushing into a set. The scope of this movie's logistics puts a general at a battlefield deploying troops to shame.
Daylight is more of the same: Joe Hero comes to the rescue. It's been done to death and this movie does nothing to extend the genre's boundaries. Other than the fireball sequence (which does make ID4's look lame), there just ain't that much to this flick.
Movie's suitability for: