Storyline Trouble strikes when runaway robbers in a getaway car hit truck full of explosives in the tunnel connecting Manhatten and New Jersey. Survivors are left in a weakened tunnel blocked at both exits. As Kit Latura approaches the tunnel, he see the impact and knows he gotta take action. With time running out, he enters the tunnel through a system of maintenance walkways. Can he get the survivors out before the tunnel fills up?
Cast: Sylvester Stallone
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Kit Latura
Amy Brenneman
-
Madelyne Thompson
Viggo Mortensen
-
Roy Nord
Dan Hedaya
-
Frank Kraft
Jay O. Sanders
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Steven Crighton
Karen Young
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Sarah Crighton
Claire Bloom
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Eleanor Trilling
Vanessa Bell Calloway
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Grace Calloway
Renoly Santiago
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Mikey
Colin Fox
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Roger Trilling
Danielle Harris
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Ashley Crighton
Trina McGee
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LaTonya
(as Trina McGee-Davis)
Marcello Thedford
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Kadeem
Sage Stallone
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Vincent
Jo Anderson
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Bloom
Taglines:
They went in alone. The only way out is.....together !
Opening Weekend: $10,014,795
(USA)
(8 December 1996)
(2175 Screens)
Gross: $159,212,469
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia: Sylvester Stallone announced this movie to be his last action movie, as he deemed himself getting too old for the genre. However, he did continue to make action movies like
Driven,
Rocky Balboa and
Rambo well into his fifties and sixties.
Goofs:
Factual errors:
In the beginning of the movie when they have to shut down the fans so Sylvester Stallone's character can get into the vent system, he gets past the first fan and then it kicks on. The other fans aren't moving that fast. Once the first fan kicked on, the other fans should be spinning much faster due to fluidic coupling, which is similar to a torque converter in a car.
Quotes: Ashley Crighton:
[as seeing a huge gush of water pouring into the damaged tunnel]
Excuse me Mr. Latura. But, are we gonna drown? Kit Latura:
What's your name? Ashley Crighton:
Ashley. Kit Latura:
Okay, Ashley. I may find a way to stop this leak. So, it will keep us from drowning, that's the good news. Sarah Crighton:
Okay, what's the bad news? Kit Latura:
This water is 38 degrees. So, the only thing we have to worry about is Hypothermia. LaTonya:
Hypo-what? Sarah Crighton:
Hypothermia. It's when your body loses heat and shuts down. When your body is getting tired, really, you're getting dead. Does that sound fair enough?
User Review
Very much a genre movie with all the clichés and problems you'd expect but it is enjoyable enough to be worth seeing
Rating:
Trucks loaded with toxic waste. A stolen car being pursued by the
police. Separate events that come together in a New York city tunnel
when the latter crashes into the former starting a chain reaction
explosion that sends a fireball sweeping through the tunnel and sealing
it at both ends. A handful of survivors are left trapped with burning
toxic waste and only enough air to last a few hours. Only a few meters
short of entering the tunnel himself, cab driver and disgraced former
fire chief Kit Latura recognises a disaster when he sees one and,
thanks to a drill he ran years ago, knows that the standard rescue
methods will not work. When his replacement dies ignoring his advice,
his former colleagues turn to him and he agrees to enter the tunnel and
try to rescue the survivors.
From the opening ten minutes we know just where we are. The brief
pictures of characters does enough to set up their roles within the
disaster genre and it is not long before one massive explosion and we
are back in the disaster films that were so popular in the 1970's. To
many this will be a bad thing because while meeting all the genre
requirements this film also repeats all the old problems as well – I
guess it is about what you like, if you like the genre then you'll
enjoy this. The plot is the basic stuff, focusing on one small group
and throwing up one obstacle after another for them to get over. At
each stage we'll have losses, tragic deaths, heroic sacrifice,
emotional panic, headstrong jerks etc etc – it does everything you
would expect. Of course this also brings with it the problems of being
rushed, the characters being cardboard cut outs, the drama being staged
and never being able to stop without making things look bad and the
fact that the film is a bit too close to being a cloying weepy for
comfort.
None of this stops it being exciting enough to be worth seeing though.
The modern effects are impressive and the sets etc are convincingly
real. The actors hardly have a lot to work with but they do well enough
to make it work well. Stallone holds back from being an invincible
action man and he is better for it, producing a good lead. The support
all fill their genre roles but most of them do it well enough so that
they are actually emotionally engaging rather than just being fodder.
Hedaya, Sanders, Brenneman, Mortensen and others are all solid enough
to make it work – sure they are a bit corny at times but this is more
to do with the genre writing than the acting.
Overall this is a disaster movie very much in the genre mould set in
the 1970's and it has all the weaknesses you would expect from the
genre. The writing is where the clichés come in but these are almost
carried by the solid acting and enjoyable special effects. A genre
movie then but one that is enjoyable if you like that sort of thing –
just don't expect anything original or new and you'll be OK.
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