Daylight
Kino Lorber
Video: 2160p/Dolby Vision
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, 2.0 DTS-HD MA
Subtitles: English SDH
Buy it from DiabolikDVD

by Billy Russell, Associate Editor

The Movie: Average

A movie like Daylight is a good, dependable friend. You know exactly what you’re getting into. Sure, there are some surprises along the way, but you know what you’re getting into. You’re not looking to have your socks blown off or your intellect challenged. This is a movie you turn your brain off for, and in exchange, you forget about the world for a couple hours.

Daylight stars Sylvester Stallone as Kit Latura, a disgraced EMS who must lead a ragtag group of survivors in a collapsed tunnel to safety. This group of folks couldn’t be any more different, from all walks of life–you’ve got a rich family at odds with each other, a handful of cons from a prison bus, a cop, a playboy spelunking daredevil and a recent divorcee. By the end of the film, you just know you’re going to see Sly’s character redeem himself and that these characters are going to learn to work together, as a team, to survive.

Anything you can imagine plaguing our plucky group of survivors in a collapsed tunnel can and does happen. Poisonous gasses? Check. Flooding? Check. Constant explosions? Check. Will our playboy spelunking daredevil attempt to climb a rickety passageway comprised of collapsed cars and other rubble? Oh, you betcha. Check and mate.

When Daylight was first released in 1996 it did okay box office business and received a lot of negative reviews including, of course, a Golden Raspberry for star Sylvester Stallone. Stallone has proven, again and again, when he needs to be, he can be an incredible performer. He can act. This movie doesn’t require much more from him than to be a reliable athlete and to convincingly deliver such lines as, “Come on! You can make it!” For my money, he leads a terrific cast of character actors that elevate a dumb screenplay. Viggo Mortensen is having a blast chewing scenery. Amy Brenneman is great as the strong woman lead who will inevitably become the romantic interest near the film’s end. And peppered throughout are a number of other actors you’ll recognize from other things, like Danielle Harris from the later Halloween sequels. Or that guy from Tommy Boy.

Daylight is predictable, by design, and capably directed by Rob Cohen of the first Fast and the Furious movie. However much you enjoy this movie is going to depend on how much you enjoy mindless action and disaster flicks. The action is genuinely thrilling and well done. If you allow it to, Daylight may just get your heart rate up.

The Packaging: Average

Kino Lorber has released Daylight in a two-disc release, with one disc containing the film in 4K, and the other on Blu-ray, with the Blu-ray disc containing all special features. Both discs are housed in a standard case, with both it and the removable slipcover containing identical poster artwork from previous releases.

The Video: Excellent

Daylight was restored from its original 35mm camera negative and graded in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) for this release. The film has truly never looked better. While Daylight isn’t the most visually breathtaking film ever made, cinematographer David Eggby knows how to lens a good action film. From the original Mad Max to Quigley Down Under, he has an eye for lighting and composition. The Dolby Vision HDR grading allows the shadows of the collapsed tunnel to run a deep, inky black without any static or lens noise and the colors of the costuming, sets, etc. have a wonderful naturalism to them. Some HDR presentations are guilty of overexaggerating their colors and allowing them to become oversaturated, but they look great here. The overall presentation looks exquisitely filmic, awash in a fine layer of film grain.

The Audio: Good

It pains me to give the audio a “good” score when it should really be “excellent” if not for several issues that have plagued its 5.1 surround mix. Daylight is a movie that makes the most of its surround speaker placement, with pinpoint precision in effects. For a claustrophobic movie that takes place in a tight, dilapidated tunnel, any number of effects could fire off from anywhere. Rubble falling in the front right channel! A sparking electrical cable in the rear left! An explosion rings out in the front of the sound stage and echoes through the back of it! It’s all such thrilling stuff, except that the effects of the rear are mixed so loudly and so inconsistently that you’re better off just using the 2.0 stereo option.

Both the 5.1 and 2.0 mix are encoded in DTS-HD MA. With the stereo option, dialogue is a lot clearer. With the surround mix, you’re likely going to be fiddling with the remote to raise and lower the volume during certain sequences.

Special Features: Average

There aren’t a lot of supplements here, but for a lesser-known actioner from the 90s, you couldn’t ask for much more. You’ve got director’s audio commentary, some legacy featurettes and a music video.

Audio Commentary - Director Rob Cohen
The Making of Daylight
EPK Featurette
Music Video - “Whenever There is Love” by Donna Summer and Bruce Roberts
Trailers

In Summary: Grab it on sale

Daylight is reliable in its predictability. Movies like this are comfort food. You know what you’re signing up for and there’s something soothing about the way it hits those beats of its formula. While the 5.1 audio mix is, unfortunately, a mess (which is a shame because its design is incredible), there’s a great 2.0 stereo mix that TV speakers and two-channel soundbars will benefit from. The visual presentation is top-notch, with sharp details and excellent color realization. Daylight from Kino Lorber does right by the movie and gives fans a worthy physical media release in 4K UHD.

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