प्लॉट

Disaster in a New York tunnel as explosions collapse both ends of it. One hero tries to help the people inside find their way to safety.

Trouble strikes when runaway robbers in a getaway car hit truck full of explosives in the tunnel connecting Manhattan and New Jersey. Survivors are left in a weakened tunnel blocked at both exits. As Kit Latura approaches the tunnel, he sees 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?—Bryanne Marks

A runaway car hits a truck full of toxic waste causing an explosion that seals both exits of an underground tunnel between Manhattan and New Jersey. It's up to Kit Latura, disgraced ex-chief of the city's Emergency Medical Services, to find a way in and bring out the survivors before air runs out or the Hudson river runs in.—Giancarlo Cairella <vertigo@imdb.com>

When an explosion blocks New York's Hudson Tunnel at both ends, ex Emergency Medical Services Chief Kit Latura is the only one with the know-how and experience to save the day. Risking his life to join the survivors in the tunnel; he finds a feisty writer, an elderly couple, a famous action-man, a quarreling family, some young hoodlums, a security guard and even a Weimaraner dog. Can he put his own past tragedies behind him and bring this desperate group to safety?—Duncan Shine <Shine@Telecall.Co.Uk>

In Upstate New York, a waste management firm loads barrels of toxic waste onto trucks, intending to illegally dispose of it. The company has bribed a guard to let the shipment pass through the highway tunnel between 11 pm and midnight. They are shown heading into a highway tunnel under a river between Manhattan and New Jersey along with several other commuters, including struggling playwright Maddy Thompson (Amy Brenneman) (she was on her way out of the city after yet another rejection of her play, having rats in her apartment in a bad neighborhood and finding that the guy she was dating was married with a family), a bus of juvenile offenders (including Mikey (Renoly Santiago), Kadeem (Marcello Thedford), Vincent (Sage Stallone) and Laytona (Trina McGee)), a vacationing family (Steve Crighton (Jay O. Sanders), Sarah Crighton (Karen Young) and Ashley (Danielle Harris) their 14 year old daughter), an elderly couple with a dog (Roger Trilling (Colin Fox), Eleanor (Claire Bloom) and their son's dog Cooper), and athlete Roy Nord (Viggo Mortensen).

On duty inside the tunnel is George Tyrell (Stan Shaw), a transit cop. Grace (Vanessa Bell Calloway) is tunnel operations dispatcher and George's girlfriend. Norman Bassett (Barry Newman) is the tunnel operations supervisor. The tunnel was built in 1921 under 24 feet of riverbed and 72 feet of water.

Meanwhile, a gang of diamond thieves escape the police by racing into the tunnel. The gang force their way through the north tube traffic, spilling the diamonds all over the floor of the car: While one thief tries to retrieve them the driver loses control, smashing though a security booth and into one of the trucks. The waste barrels explode, causing the other trucks to explode and setting off a chain reaction. The tunnel cave mid-way to the South Side, and a devastating fireball sweeps through the tunnel, incinerating the majority of the motorists within it. The fireball reaches the North side of the tunnel, causing a major cave in, sealing the tunnel from both sides.

About to enter the Manhattan (North) end of the tunnel, former New York City Emergency Medical Services Chief, Kit Latura (Sylvester Stallone), now working as a taxi driver, witnesses the fireball erupting from the entrance. While racing to help whoever he can he runs into an old EMS colleague, who tells him that the tunnel is severely damaged, and could come down if any wrong moves are made. Chief Dennis Wilson (Mark Rolston), an antagonistic EMS chief who replaced Kit after his dismissal, is attempting to access the tunnel from the South side, from where it caved. Kit reaches Wilson and says that the only play here is to set explosives inside the tunnel to create an opening and rescue the survivors. Wilson dismisses the suggestion and refuses to set explosives inside a tunnel, underneath a river.

Maddy rescues the trapped juveniles from the prison transport bus. Mikey was reticent to leave the bus, but Maddy convinces him, just before an electrical wire is about to fall on the bus and ignites the fuel lines. George reaches the bus, and signals to Grace on the traffic cam to cut the power inside the tunnel, which works.

Kit then checks with tunnel administrators and finds that most of the old exits have been sealed off or are considered unsafe. Removing the debris by hand will require 12 hours, while the air will not last more than 3 hours inside the tunnel. Kit makes his way into the tunnel through the ventilation system, risking his life as the large fans can only be slowed down for a short time.

A group of the survivors trapped inside band around Nord, who believes he can find a way out through the mid-river passage, a service corridor running between the north and south tubes. Kit arrives and finds Nord, warning him that the passage could come down at any moment, but Nord dismisses the possibility. Kit barely escapes as the mid-river passage collapses, killing Nord, and causing another explosion which kills a juvenile offender.

Water begins seeping in from the river above, and Kit uses an explosive to stop the leak. Police officer George Tyrell returns from investigating the Manhattan end and is crushed under a truck as the road shifts. The group manage to free him before he can drown, but he is left with a broken neck. The water level continues to rise, and the angry survivors confront Kit: He claims he can slow it down but not stop it, as the clean-up effort on the Manhattan side of the tunnel is causing water to enter their side. Kit recalls that there are sleeping quarters beside the tunnels and asks George how to access them - Kit finds one by swimming under a security booth, and leads the group to this area, but George has to be left behind. He gives Kit a bracelet intended for his girlfriend Grace and tells him to "get them to daylight".

Eleanor, one of the elder survivors, is distressed that her late son's dog Cooper is missing. She refuses to go on, then suddenly yet quietly passes away, presumably from hypothermia. The group moves to another room as the first one floods, convincing Eleanor's husband to come with them. As they reach the top of an old wooden staircase, a beam falls and destroys the lower half. Kit notices Cooper swimming in the water below and dives down to rescue him, passing him up to the survivors. One survivor, Maddy, tries to help Kit up but falls into the water, as more of the staircase is knocked down. Kit orders the rest of the group to leave. The majority of the group escape through a manhole into daylight while the corridor caves in behind them, leaving Kit and the hysterical Maddy behind in the rising water.

Kit and Maddy swim around looking for a possible way out, with the main highway tunnel now almost completely submerged. Kit realizes he will have to use his explosives to cause a "blow out" and rip the tunnel roof open. The blast forces Maddy towards the surface but throws Kit downwards. Maddy finds a barely conscious Kit and keeps him afloat, as a boat discovers them offshore. Lying on a stretcher, Kit sees Grace in the crowd and hands her George's bracelet. Maddy insists on riding with him in the Ambulance, to which Kit replies "on one condition; we got to take the bridge."