Daylight (1996)

An explosion in a tunnel under the Hudson River in New York causes a sweeping fireball to incinerate the majority of motorists. An ex paramedic (Sylvester Stallone), now driving a taxi, takes it upon himself to gather up the survivors and try to find a way out. Directed by Rob Cohen (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS), the production values and special effects of this disaster film are first rate. However, the movie is sunk by its dreadful dialogue and cardboard characters. Say what you will about the disaster movies of the 1970s but movies like THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and TOWERING INFERNO may have had cardboard characters too but they were smart enough to give the films time enough to develop those characters so we got to know them and could invest in their fate. Not here! Those films also had strong actors who could flesh out some of that cardboard but with the exception of a wasted Claire Bloom (I hope she was paid well) and Viggo Mortensen (defeated by his inane character), the movie doesn't have actors of that quality. A disaster movie where you don't give a rat's ass if anybody survives has nowhere to go but down. With Amy Brenneman, Dan Hedaya, Jay O. Sanders, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Rosemary Forsyth, Stan Shaw and Barry Newman.