Most critics treat Daylight as a conventional disaster thriller, and the reviews lean mixed to negative. Where there is praise, it clusters on the spectacle: the special effects, the opening fireball and the suspense of the rescue sequences, with several reviewers allowing that the film delivers the genre’s basic goods competently. Rob Cohen’s action staging draws a nod, and Sylvester Stallone is noted for a more vulnerable turn than usual, which Radio Times counts as an unexpected strength.
The reservations gather around the story and the people in it. The plot is called formulaic by nearly everyone, and the harsher reviews find the trapped survivors hard to care about; The New Yorker goes further, judging the effects swamped by the star’s vanity. Variety’s dissent is specific, admiring Viggo Mortensen’s charisma and regretting how little the film makes of him. The spread is wide: Empire alone recommends it outright, while three reviews are plainly negative.