I first watched Daylight back in 1996 when it came out. I was but a young ape back then. This flick was an original excitement ride. It still is. Some smaller details I forgot. The punks, a typical 90’s “criminal” look of the time, pulling off the diamond heist was a part of the plot I didn’t recall watching it 30 years later. It made me chuckle. Another feature I forgot was that Sly Stallone‘s character has to get into the tunnel and isn’t trapped with the rest of the characters after the first explosion.
One thing I did recall was the appearance of Viggo Mortensen as the cocky and overconfident businessman with an appetite for spelunking that gets himself in trouble trying to be the hero. I didn’t know who he was thirty years ago but his subsequent role as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy solidified his name in my memory. Coming back to this film and seeing the blonde version being a bit of a self-righteous twat, doing his best Branson impersonation, I actually found him quite humanised compared to the hyper-capitalist crackpots we have in the form of postmodern billionaires these days.
The rest of the cast was well placed to portray the various sectors of society. The criminal class being transported, the guard working in the tunnel itself. The atomistic family and the rebellious, independent single woman. Each one being a representative of one microcosm of the human world of the time and playing their part in the story rather well. Although Sly is the main hero, Madelyne Thompson, played by Amy Brenneman, brings real feminine strength to the story.
The basic premise of the plot was wonderfully terrifying in its claustrophobic candour: being trapped in a bridge under a river with no foreseeable way out. Nothing paranormal or supernatural to create the chaos and fear. Physics and natural forces of water and pressure do enough to pull the stakes into the highest possible sphere: Life of death.
Another heart warming and wrenching character in the story is George, played by Stan Shaw. With his loving partner on the outside wishing him home in good health and his position of authority as the tunnel guard giving him a certain responsibility to see everyone home safely, the tragedy of his story hits hard. The wonderful humanity of teamwork to save his life only for it to not be enough in the end lends real weight to the narrative. The music does very well to accompany each moment of triumph and tragedy as they unfold.
And watching it again now, with a few grey hairs and far more data stored in my primate brain-pan, what really stands out is how earnest the whole thing is. There’s no wink-wink, no ironic detachment, no multiverse nonsense. Just a bunch of humans stuck underground trying not to drown, while Stallone grunts and strains and summons that particular 90s brand of heroic sincerity that could probably hold up a collapsing bridge in real life.
The practical effects hold up surprisingly well, too. Water rushing, metal groaning, fire blooming through tight spaces. It all has that tactile edge modern CGI often lacks. You can almost smell the diesel and damp concrete. The film never loses its heart. It always circles back to compassion, sacrifice, and that tiny stubborn spark all humans seem capable of carrying. The little flame that insists survival is worth fighting for, even when the ceiling is literally coming down.
Rewatching Daylight felt like revisiting a childhood memory that still has sharp edges. A reminder of when disaster movies were about ordinary people pushed to extraordinary limits, not just spectacle for spectacle’s sake.
