Cliffhanger

Rating:
Summary: rocky mountains here I come...!
Review: The previous two reviewers must have seen a different movie because the 'Cliffhanger' I saw kept me awake and just on the edge of my seat the whole time.There was very little time to pause and take a breath.Its a 'please dont try this at home movie' which parents should impress upon their kids.I thought the rock climbing scenes were awesome, contrived and aided by special effects though they may be.Even if it didnt inspire me to immediately go out and scale Mt Capitan I certainly admired the sheer efforts of the film crew and the stunt men involved.Hats off to you guys,...and guyesses.Stallone apparently did most of his own stunts but even he is overshadowed by the evil and loathsome character with no redeeming features played by John Lithgow.Watching '3rd Rock...'wont be the same again.This actor will never be typecast.I also liked the spectacular air crash at the start and the hand to hand fighting which looked real enough.I thought it interesting that the bad guys were multi-ethnic.So as maybe not to offend anyone perhaps...!?

Rating:
Summary: Climbing scenes are just annoying, dont buy it.
Review: I saw this just out of weakness to see a movie with some climbing, any climbing, I fully expected it to be a dumb movie. However the climbing scenes are just awfull. The directors must have gone out of their way to make this ridiculous. The toproped lead in Eiger Sanction was nothing on this. Every scene involving any climbing at all (and there are not many) is pure crap. Its just insulting.

Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: Dreadfully dull. Predictible. Bad acting. Don't waste your money

Rating:
Summary: My mistake on menu
Review: My error on review below. I did not know how to obtain the disk menu. This is a great movie and the sound (once you understand the quirks of your DVD player) is excellent in 5.1!!! But then we country folk are slow learners.

Rating:
Summary: No DVD menu available
Review: Picture quality good but the case advertises 5.1 sound and only delivers Pro-logic. My copy would not locate any DVD menu. The disc offers two viewing formats (one on each side of the disc.)

Rating:
Summary: Man Conquers The Rockies
Review: The Colorado Rockies is just one majestic attraction in the USA that is not well exploited by movie makers. Thanks to the creator of Cliffhanger in making this come to reality. Obvious enough, the movie has very few weak visual effects that kinda disapproves a thrill seeker's likings. I wonder if there were a few scenes in this movie that were shot in Hollywood. Nonetheless, the movie is packed with action and adventure. It was quite disheartening on the first episode after a girlfriend falls from the line. So terrifying and so real! Sylvester Stallone is just the man for this kind of adventure.

Rating:
Summary: This film was awsome man!!!!!!!!!!
Review: This was one of the best action movies I have ever seen.My favorite part was at the end where the helicoptor turned over and Stallone&that man fought on it!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD demo disc!
Review: Great visuals, and excellent sound make this a great movie to show off DVD to your friends and family. It also doesn't hurt that while the story is predictable, it's very entertaining! The opening sequences with the helicopter flying around will make you turn your head to 'see' the helicopters which sound like they are all around you. Great stuff!

Rating:
Summary: The action never stops
Review: This movie didn't get a terrific review from the pros, but as a normal movie goer I really enjoyed this movie. After such flops as Stop or My Mom Will Shoot and Oscar, Stallone rebounded with this great action packed movie. From the first couple minutes of the movie until the very end, you will be "hanging" onto your seat. This movie has great performances by Stallone and John Lithgow(pre-third rock), and is encased in a gorgeous surrounding. The cinamatography is amazing and the action is just as amazing. With great rock climbing action and race against time thrills, this movie will keep you hooked, especially us guys. The only reason I gave four stars is because there a few actors in the movie that need to go back to acting class and review a little before getting back in front of the camera, but they do not take away from the non-stop action and are eventually killed off anyway. So if you are in the mood for a good Stallone/action film, order Cliffhanger and find out just how good it is yourself. Greg-17

Rating:
Summary: Exciting action flick, though not up to DIE HARD
Review: A previous reviewer called CLIFFHANGER a "guilty pleasure," and that is pretty much the way I see the film.

CLIFFHANER was a return to action form for its star Sylvester Stallone, after he had made his indelible mark on the genre with his RAMBO trilogy in '80s. His character here, Gabe Walker, is drastically scaled-down, befitting the film's "high" concept, which is basically "DIE HARD on a mountain."

Okay, so the premise (which is actually credited in this movie to a man named John Long) is not breathtakingly original---a nasty group of robbers led by evil Eric Qualen (John Lithgow, effectively playing his role to the hilt) lose three cases of American money in the Rockies and force Walker and companion Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker, he of HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER) to help them find it. Director Renny Harlin---who also directed DIE HARD 2---brings all his action expertise to bear on the thin plot and actually succeeds in crafting a good action film out of it. He was lucky in getting cinematographer Alex Thomson on his team, and Thomson makes the most of the Italian Dolomites (standing in for the Rockies) mountain settings by creating shots that revel in its scenic grandeur and impart an appropriately dizzying sense of vertigo to the proceedings. And Harlin uses his penchant for fast action pacing to good effect here, generating an exciting sense of momentum that hardly ever lets up until the final showdown.

So, as action entertainment, CLIFFHANGER can be counted as a success. So why do I find it a "guilty" pleasure rather than simply a pleasure? Well, I have to admit that I found some of the violence in the second half of the film a little too much at times---not only gratuitous but sometimes downright brutal. The first half of the film is much more discreet with the bloodshed, relying more on genuine suspense-building and awesome special effects and stunts to make its proper effect (the first twelve-minute sequence is arguably the last word in sweat-inducing suspense and mounting tension). In the second half, though, the script (credited to Michael France and Stallone) and director let rip with gory abandon, and thus we get images of a black bad guy getting skewered upon a stalactite by the hero, and scenes like Tucker being kicked in the ribs and nose like a soccer ball for a good minute or so by a British terrorist (with some tasteless slo-mos to draw out the grand brutality). Did we really need to be subjected to such witless violence? Do the filmmakers assume that we are all so base in our tastes that we actually get turned on by this bloody stuff? Well, who knows? Maybe they have a point there, since I admit that the first time I saw this film I was shocked but hardly appalled by the violence on offer here. It is only after having seen it a few times since then that I am starting to question the validity of the violent scenes on offer here. Harlin started the film out so well, but then, after about an hour or so, it turns into a second-rate one-upping of icicle-in-the-eye scene in his superior DIE HARD 2.

Notwithstanding my unease about the violence in this movie, though, it must be said that CLIFFHANGER works. It is sometimes very exciting and suspenseful, the performances basically get the job done, and overall this is one of the better DIE HARD clones, thanks to some great cinematography and noteworthy action scenes. If neither of the first two DIE HARD films are available for rental, this will fit the bill. Just don't be surprised, after it is over, if you feel a little guilty about having enjoyed it as much as you did.