Today on TV: Sylvester Stallone plunges into an inferno in this disaster action movie from the makers of Fast & Furious

In the 1990s, the disaster movie genre, which had become popular two decades earlier, experienced a true renaissance. Movies like “Deep Impact”, “Outbreak” and of course “Twister”, “Independence Day” and “Armageddon” became worldwide cinema hits. Also worth mentioning in this series is “Daylight” by The Fast And The Furious and xXx – Triple X director Rob Cohen. It operates on a more intimate spatial level, but is just as effective in terms of suspense and action.

“daylight“ runs today, March 31, 2023 at 8:15 p.m. on RTL 2. The station offers a repeat at 2:20 that same night. If these dates are not convenient for you, you can order the Blu-ray or DVD from online retailers such as Amazon. Optionally, the FSK 12 title is also available for a fee Video on demand* ready to stream.

Well, of course: the action wheel hasn’t exactly been reinvented in “Daylight” – especially with regard to the course of the story. The whole thing is sometimes reminiscent of a slightly pimped, more modern version of classics like “Flammendes Inferno” or “Poseidon Inferno” – just in a tunnel instead of a skyscraper or on an ocean liner. Therefore, for viewers with a little experience, the outcome is largely predictable. And Sylvester Stallone’s figure of the hero who has already failed fatally and is therefore broken has somehow been seen several times, for example, by the superstar herself in “Cliffhanger”, just three years earlier.

Nevertheless (or just because the scenarios and characters have proven themselves time and time again?) the film will be a lot of fun for fans of the subject. This is partly because of the charisma of the main character and partly because of the action scenes that are still convincing today. Even the grandiosely choreographed sequence at the start is a treat for fans of largely handcrafted special effects – including spectacular car crashes and gargantuan chain reactions of explosions.

In addition to Stallone, who throws out one or the other one-liner as usual, but otherwise behaves pleasantly reserved, there are currently other popular faces in the cast. For example, “Lord of the Rings” Aragorn Viggo Mortensen or Amy Brenneman, who recently played bigger roles in the series hits “The Leftovers” and “Shining Girls”.

“Daylight” on RTL 2: That’s the story

The Holland Tunnel connects Manhattan to New Jersey under the Hudson River. During rush hour, as hundreds of cars move, jewel thieves on the run from the police race against a motorcade of trucks carrying dangerous chemicals. There are several powerful explosions that lead to dozens of deaths. Moreover, this threatens to cause the tunnel ceiling to collapse.

A number of survivors (including Brenneman, Mortensen, Stan Shaw, Jay O. Sanders) are trapped in the rubble 100 feet below the river, where they are exposed to fire and toxic smoke. Meanwhile, taxi driver Kit Latura (Stallone) witnesses the accident outside the tunnel. Until a few years ago, he was the head of New York’s disaster services. But when several employees died due to misjudgment on his part, he lost his job.

Without hesitation, Latura marches into the tunnel operator’s headquarters, staffed by former colleagues (Dan Hedaya, Barry Newman). Here he learns that a pipe is now unstable, which prevents the rescue work and puts the buried in danger of suffocation. Latura descends on them through the damaged ventilation system. Once he reaches the bottom there are more explosions, causing parts of the ceiling to collapse and large amounts of water to enter…

*