Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in order, I come to 1993's Cliffhanger.
Whilst his muscle bound rival, Arnold Schwarzenegger was scoring huge with Terminator 2 in his last movie, Sly's movies were tanking and tanking hard. So after coming to terms with the fact he wasn't going to score a hit movie with comedies, and unable to return to the safety net of Rocky and Rambo (after the last movies under performed) Sly returned to the action genre, more in need of a hit than ever.
Plot In A Paragraph: A botched mid-air heist results in suitcases full of cash being scattered throughout the Rocky Mountains. Mountain worker Gabe Walker (Stallone) is forced to guide the high jackers (Led by John Lithgow) to the suitcases.
Cliffhanger has one of the greatest openings to a movie ever!! I rate it up there with Jaws, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Saving Private Ryan! It's that good!!
Renny Harlin is a director who is either great or awful. Thankfully it's the former here, and the action scenes are all brilliantly (if slightly unbelievable) staged. Trevor Jones score is a real winner too.
Despite some awful stunt doubles, some dodgy use of miniatures, and obvious studio sets mixed with real footage, Cliffhanger is very enjoyable. With the exception of an over the top John Lithgow, Rex Linn and Caroline Goodall, who all put in fine turns. The villains are as cardboard, two dimensional and cliché as the come. But this is the Stallone show, and backed up by the always reliable Michael Rooker he is back on top form. OK it's still a bit of a one man army story, but it's certainly more believable than the last Rambo.
He may not be the number one Box Office Star in the world anymore, Kevin Costner, who'd been scoring big in The Untouchables, No Way Out, Bull Durham, Field Of Dreams, JFK, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, The Bodyguard and the Oscar winning Dances With Wolves (which he directed) whilst Sly movies under performed, had over taken over him as the biggest movie star on the planet. And rival Schwarzenegger was doing better than him too, thanks to Predator, Total Recall and T2, but Cliffhanger proves that back in the action hero role, Sly still had it in him to deliver the goods.
Whilst his muscle bound rival, Arnold Schwarzenegger was scoring huge with Terminator 2 in his last movie, Sly's movies were tanking and tanking hard. So after coming to terms with the fact he wasn't going to score a hit movie with comedies, and unable to return to the safety net of Rocky and Rambo (after the last movies under performed) Sly returned to the action genre, more in need of a hit than ever.
Plot In A Paragraph: A botched mid-air heist results in suitcases full of cash being scattered throughout the Rocky Mountains. Mountain worker Gabe Walker (Stallone) is forced to guide the high jackers (Led by John Lithgow) to the suitcases.
Cliffhanger has one of the greatest openings to a movie ever!! I rate it up there with Jaws, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Saving Private Ryan! It's that good!!
Renny Harlin is a director who is either great or awful. Thankfully it's the former here, and the action scenes are all brilliantly (if slightly unbelievable) staged. Trevor Jones score is a real winner too.
Despite some awful stunt doubles, some dodgy use of miniatures, and obvious studio sets mixed with real footage, Cliffhanger is very enjoyable. With the exception of an over the top John Lithgow, Rex Linn and Caroline Goodall, who all put in fine turns. The villains are as cardboard, two dimensional and cliché as the come. But this is the Stallone show, and backed up by the always reliable Michael Rooker he is back on top form. OK it's still a bit of a one man army story, but it's certainly more believable than the last Rambo.
He may not be the number one Box Office Star in the world anymore, Kevin Costner, who'd been scoring big in The Untouchables, No Way Out, Bull Durham, Field Of Dreams, JFK, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, The Bodyguard and the Oscar winning Dances With Wolves (which he directed) whilst Sly movies under performed, had over taken over him as the biggest movie star on the planet. And rival Schwarzenegger was doing better than him too, thanks to Predator, Total Recall and T2, but Cliffhanger proves that back in the action hero role, Sly still had it in him to deliver the goods.