Cliffhanger
In his ongoing, career long effort to refine the art of mindless action movies into that of a respectable form of entertainment, Sylvester Stallone tried many different things and many different concepts, usually from his own original screenplays but he was also not above taking the work of other writers and giving it his own experienced spin in order to get it made almost always with himself in the starring role. This release from 1993 is (to put it bluntly) Die Hard On A Mountain as a Rescue Patrol Crew in The Colorado Rocky Mountains (although it was filmed in Italy) come up against a crew of bloodthirsty European bank robbers (which is what the villains in Die Hard really were anyway) and must fight to survive under arduous circumstances. The smartest move here was in hiring Renny Harlin to direct what with him being a guy known for caring very little for anything involving the story or script (not always a good thing), but when it came to actually making the damn MOVIE itself, Harlin would always come through with something that both looked and sounded great and this would be no exception, making the magnificent vistas of The Rockies via Italy appear absolutely breathtaking which guaranteed that the scenery would always be damn near perfect even if the rest of the movie wasnât worth a shit. But thankfully that is not the case here albeit there are some literal implausibilities on display both in the depiction of mountain climbing and also in Rescue Patrol tactics in those areas. The opening sequence is truly one of the most terrifying ever put to film (with the Ace Ventura sequel spoofing it a short time later) with Stalloneâs best friend and fellow Patrol Crew member (Michael Rooker) trying to impress everyone (including Stallone) and show just how slick he is by bringing a pretty girlfriend all the way up to a highly elevated peak so that they can be alone together. Of course they wind up stranded (and Rooker also appears to have a serious knee injury so itâs a wonder how he even got up there) and the girl herself is an inexperienced climber who has no business being so far up there but then here comes Stallone to the rescue, shuffling Rooker off on a winch before he tries to hotshot the rescue of the clearly frightened girl, forgoing all other reasonable safety techniques to try to also get her across a winch line that only professional climbers should ever use. As most people know, the line breaks and the screaming girl falls 4000 feet to her death, leading Stallone to hate himself and for Rooker to hate him too (although his own reckless tendencies is what got her up there in the first place). The story picks up 8 months later with Stallone returning to the scene of the crime after a long absence just so he can hang around and look mournful. Meanwhile, a Federal Reserve jet carrying $100 million dollars in unmarked cash is hijacked by a mostly European team led by Eric Qualen (John Lithgow, taking a nothing character written as a Hans Gruber clone and getting maximum mileage out of it based solely on his talent). Qualenâs crew quickly stands out from others of their kind in other movies given their extremely high mortality rate from the get go (and not from any of the main characters) as just during the airborne robbery itself several of them are killed right off the bat (when examining a wounded comrade and being asked what they should do about him, Lithgow quips âbetter get him to a hospitalâ and then chucks him off the plane to his death). Lithgow does have an ace in the hole going into the heist in the form of a turncoat Treasury Agent (Rex Linn) who does most of the dirty work killing the other government agents onboard before transporting both himself and the money into Lithgowâs hands. Unfortunately, he makes it a point to transport himself first and then bring over the money which results in the three suitcases stuffed with cash coming loose and falling into the icy tundra below. Lithgow quickly suits up everyone who is still alive, makes a phony distress call to get some handy guides out there and when Rooker and Stallone (who was just tagging along) show up, they find themselves with guns pointed to their heads and a take it or leave it offer that either they help recover the money or theyâll kill them both. Lithgow sneers his way through playing an obviously educated and refined European smartass, a separation from his other legendary villains in more ways than one as we are told that a man with his connections is literally the only one who can move unmarked bills of this high quality on the European black market and it also becomes obvious that while heâs ready, willing and able to kill both Stallone and Rooker in a heartbeat, he seems to care even LESS about his own men since heâs fully aware of the fact that the more of your own crew members that you whittle down over the course of a major heist, then the less shares that you have to worry about distributing to the others (that is if thereâs even anyone left afterwards) and the cooly sly way that he plays upon his own crewâs paranoia in the same way that he works on Stallone and Rooker is perhaps the most fun part to watch in this entire movie acting wise. Funny enough, Lithgow doesnât even BOTHER to make a fake offer to the two heroes in exchange for their help, preferring instead to make it clear that if one of them decides to get cute then the other one gets it, a ploy that goes out the window when Stallone winds up separated from them (and is believed to be dead) which allows him to meet up with his old girlfriend and fellow Patrol Ranger (Janine Turner) so that they can plan ambushes and intercept the stolen money to use as possible ransom in order to keep Rooker alive, all while the old senior member of the crew (Ralph Waite, infamously shown smiling and laughing earlier on when the poor girl had fallen to her death) is left a sitting duck for Lithgowâs gang who have set a trap to steal his helicopter. Stallone and Turner do the usual trap setting for each of Lithgowâs surviving men and even Rooker starts a body count first chance that he gets to be alone with one of them, all while not having any real weapons of their own except for a flare gun. Lithgow (known for having his bad guys yell, scream and curse to the high heavens in his other villain roles) remains remarkably calm through all of this, even killing the one other henchman he has (besides himself) who is capable of flying a helicopter simply to gain some leverage in a tight situation all leading up to a knock down, drag out fight to the finish between he and Stallone where (already knowing that all the money is gone and scattered to the winds) he takes on Sly in a matter of personal pride not even caring anymore if he makes it out with his own life. Harlin emphasizes the gorgeous mountain scenery as the backdrop against this mildly ridiculous story, giving each henchman a spectacular, protracted death scene when their time finally comes and not flinching at the thought of anything getting too violent since this film proudly wears its R rating directly on its sleeve. Lithgow is given a couple of other sitting ducks to demonstrate his evil on, namely two idiot âextremeâ guys who enjoy jumping off mountains to skydive but get a little too friendly when they see their old buddy Rooker and his new companions who are only too quick to open fire upon them. With Lithgow making something out of having almost nothing to work with from the script, how does Stallone fare acting wise? Well, the story seems to serve as being a violent path for him to his own redemption after the tragic accident that opens the film AND helps to patch up the tattered relationships which he has had with both Rooker and Turnerâs characters. He also shows amazing disinterest in Lithgowâs money upon intercepting it first, choosing to burn it instead in a bonfire as both a way of staying warm and guaranteeing that Lithgow will come out on the losing end no matter what, which leads Lithgow to insightfully remark âit is better to have loyalty that comes about naturally rather than loyalty that is bought and paid forâ. Would the film have been a typical action opus without Stallone and Harlinâs involvement? Would it have been a lesser film without Lithgow?? The answer is a qualified yes on both counts, as here we get a great environment, vibrant direction, and a villain who goes above and beyond to get the job done and shift this film into the upper pantheon of its genreâŚ
8/10