4K Ultra HD movie reviews: ‘Daylight’ and ‘Red One’

A look at a pair of extreme action films now available in the ultra-high definition format.

Daylight (Kino Lorber, rated PG-13, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, 115 minutes, $44.99) Sylvester Stallone flexed his action-hero muscles in director Rob Cohen’s 1996 “submersive” disaster movie debuting freshly restored in the ultra-high definition format.

The premise finds a convey of moronic truckers illegally carrying barrels of toxic waste into one of New York City’s crowded tunnels and running into a heist vehicle escaping the police with explosive results.

A group of survivors are now trapped in a leaking tunnel under the Hudson River. Enter former Emergency Medical Services Chief turned taxi driver Kit Latura (Mr. Stallone) to save the day.

In the finest traditions of 1970s disaster flicks such as “The Towering Inferno” and “The Poseidon Adventure,” the eclectic group desperate for rescuing includes a rich, sports celebrity Roy Nord (Viggo Mortensen pre-“Lord of the Rings”); struggling playwright Madelyne Thompson (Amy Brenneman); an elderly couple (Claire Bloom and Colin Fox) and their dog; a dysfunctional family; a group of juvenile prisoners; and a transit cop (Stan Shaw).

Mr. Cohen delivers a fair amount of popcorn-munching moments as the escape proceeds while the tunnel begins to collapse and fill with water but never quite attains the visual excitement or nail-biting potential found in other 1990s blockbusters such as “Armageddon,” “Twister” and “Deep Impact.”

The screen-filling 4K highlight is by far the detail of a ferocious firestorm ripping through the tunnel with its various shades of orange and red and yellow flames and the detail of the constant crumbling tunnel structure as water overwhelms the space.

Best extras: Viewers get all of the key bonus content originally found on the 2000 DVD release.

First, a steadfast and fact-packed optional commentary track with the director, who first states his thesis of creating a film that ultimately presents the “triumph of human spirit and collaboration over fear.”

He dissects nearly every aspect of the movie occasionally amusing himself with anecdotes and introducing the cast and explaining the story, the visual effects, the editing, the sets, shooting in tunnel and even breaking down scenes as they play out.

Comments reveal that the movie was based on a true story about an incident that occurred in the 1940s in the Holland tunnel, and Cohen hoped that visual effects would transcend the genre of the 1970s disaster films.

Also noteworthy, they used 2,000 rats in the film, built three different tunnels to display the effects and blew up 500 gallons of gasoline for one explosion.

Next, a 33-minute production overview anchored by Mr. Cohen covers casting, on-set footage, building the tunnel including water pumps, practical and special effects, using miniatures, the sound effects and includes on-set footage and comments from key cast and crew.

Red One (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 123 minutes, $34.98) Director Jake Kasdan’s expensive 2024 holiday box-office bomb looks to get on the nice list with home theater viewers through a visually impressive 4K disc release.

The cheery Christmas tale has the famed Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) getting kidnapped by a mysterious black ops team that breaks into the North Pole after nonbelieving hacker Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) unwittingly reveals the iconic location through his high-tech shenanigans.

Santa’s nearly retired and longtime security chief, Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), and his detail must work with MORA (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority), a secretive military organization sworn to protect mythic creatures, and eventually a repentant Jack to rescue the jolly boss with only a day before Christmas Eve.

Jack and Callum’s quest takes them down a mythological rabbit hole as they uncover a potential plot between Santa’s brother Krampus and the Christmas witch Grýla (Kiernan Shipka) to seek revenge upon all that had been put on the naughty list.

One must ask the obvious: How could a Hollywood studio spend in excess of $250 million and deliver such a holiday dud?

Despite the celebrity firepower and expensive special effects to tempt, viewers get a meandering and slightly preachy story lacking chemistry between the leads and more reminiscent of video games. It’s not terrible, especially for tweens, but certainly not worth a quarter of a billion dollars.

Imagine how that money could have been spent helping people in honor of the Christmas spirit.

Maybe a few decades from now “Red One” ends up beloved on the cult movie shelf next to “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.”

The UHD gifts do impress and include witnessing a flyover of the architecturally impressive city of the North Pole. Watch Santa take a sleigh trip led by flying reindeer and learn how he delivers that many presents to children around the world.

Also worth examining are characters such as the Headless Horseman, a trio of warrior snowmen and a great-looking Krampus.

Best extras: Warner Bros. offers nothing in the category of bonus content for “Red One,” almost guaranteeing a lack of interest from the home theater movie collector.

Maybe everyone was too embarrassed to talk about a financial disaster of a film but, at the least, that’s when a candid optional commentary track from the director or stars would have really been worthy of purchase.