OK, so figured its time for another movie review and this is YET another revistation of a revisit of a revisit of a revisit (3 revisits I think!). So, the film in question is 90's action thriller, Cliffhanger, starring Syvlester Stallone. Also since its the film's 30th anniversary this year, I figured why not give it yet another look.
So, with that said let's take once again another look at this Stallone classic...
And the usual is coming...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!
STORY
So the film begins
with the main character, Gabriel "Gabe" Walker (Stallone) a mountain
rescuer who is sent to pick up his friend and fellow mountain ranger,
Hal (Michael Rooker) who is stranded with his girlfriend, Sarah
(Michelle Joyner) up on a narrow
peak in the Rocky mountains. Hal manages to transfer himself on a steel
cable line over to a rescue helicopter piloted by Jessie (Janine
Turner) who is also Gabe's girlfriend. However after Gabe fixes the
harness for Sarah as she transfers over the line, the harness
begins to break and she is left dangling on the line. Gabe goes to
rescue her and he grabs just as her harness breaks off but he loses his
grip as her glove slips off, Sarah falls to her death 4000 feet below.
After this the story shifts to eight months later and Gabe returns to
town since Sarah's funeral, and he is now racked with guilt and no
longer climbs. Gabe asks Jessie if she will come with him but she
refuses to leave town as she says this is her home and she is annoyed at
Gabe's insistance on feeling guilty over Sarah's death as she feels he
did all he could.
Meanwhile the story moves to the US
Treasury Department where treasury agent Richard Travers (Rex Linn) is
assigned the task of transporting three suitcases of 30 million dollars
via plane. On the plane however Travers turns out to be a turncoat as
he kills two of the other agents and wounds an undercover agent, Matheson (Vyto Ruginis) who
twigs what Travers is up to. Travers then get's in contact with another
plane which is manned by a team of thieves lead by a former military
intelligence member, the ruthless and pyschotic Eric Qualen (John Lithgow).
Travers
arranges to transfer the cases by a zip line between the two planes and
he goes over himself onto the other plane, however before the cases can
be transferred (by Travers pilot who is in on it as well) Matheson shoots the pilot and at the thieves plane. The agent is soon
killed however as Travers has rigged explosives on the plane to blow,
however as a result the zip line is broken and the thieves lose the
cases which fall among the mountains. The plane makes a crash landing
and three of the group die as a result of the crash.
In
the meantime as Gabe is about to leave, Jessie informs him of a
distress call, which soon turns out to be from the thieves. Gabe
relucantly agrees to go and help find them and he meets up with Hal
while climbing up the mountains, who is still angry at Gabe over Sarah's
death for which he blames Gabe, but despite that they move on to the
thieves location.
On arriving at the plane crash, Qualen and Travers
force Gabe and Hal to help them find the cases which they agree to,
however as Gabe helps them find the first one, they attempt to kill him
but he manages to escape by cutting the rope he was tied to, just as one
of the thieves causes a landslide by using a grenade launcher, one of
their party is killed. Gabe then continues to use his skill and
knowledge of the mountain areas to try and keep ahead of them as he
rejoins with Jessie they work together to try and find the remaining two
cases.
Meanwhile Hal is forced to help Qualen's men and Travers find
the remaining two cases, although unbeknownst to them he takes them the
long way round to buy Gabe some time. And from here its up to Gabe and
Jessie to try and save Hal and find a way to stop Qualen's men and
Travers from getting what they want......
THOUGHTS
After making a string of mediocre films during the late 80s and very
early 90s such as "Over the
top", "Cobra", "Tango and Cash", and "Stop or my mom will shoot!" not to
mention the underrated but nonetheless panned "Rocky V" Sly
returned to form here with Cliffhanger, which is still a very
entertaining and suspenseful action thriller after 30 years.
It also sees a nice
change from the cocky action heroes that Stallone had played previously
to this as Gabe is morely an everyday good guy, who has to overcome his
own guilt at failing to help save his best friend Hal's girlfriend from
dying as well as confront his own fears and get back into climbing.
The
setting of the film in the Rocky mountains in Colorado also allows for
some spectacular scenery (in reality it was shot in the Dolomites
mountain range in Cortina, Italy) and the high altitude sequences also
add much suspense to the film and its a nice contrast to the city based
action films so overly used today and even of that time.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)
Performance
wise things are pretty good in Cliffhanger.
Starting with Sylvester Stallone, who gives a
pretty good account of himself in his role as Gabe Walker, the guilt
ridden mountaineer who is forced into a situation where he must fight
against a group of ruthless thieves.
Stallone also get's some good
dialogue in the film and despite his character being less cocky and
flashy then what we've seen from Stallone before, he still get's some
good quips. As for a few examples for starters there is the opening
scene where Jessie asks Gabe whereabouts he is climbing as they search
for Hal and Sarah and Gabe hanging by the rock face says "I'm just
hanging out, Jess!".
And in the next scene Gabe teases Hal by revealing
how Hal got the bandage on his leg by saying "Oh yeah I remember you
twisted it when you got out of that hot tub!" and Sarah
surprised says "I thought that was an old war wound from Nam!" and Gabe
says sarcastically "Really??!". Then Gabe says to Sarah "What do you
say we take off and leave this clown (i.e. Hal) behind??!" so Hal then
grabs Gabe's radio and warns Jessie that Gabe is making advances on his
girlfriend and is liable to get his ass kicked off the mountain. So,
Jessie replies "Be informed Gabe makes advances to me only or he'll be
climbing down alone and sleeping outside!" and Gabe replies "Baby, he
lies!".
Another good scene is when Gabe escapes from Qualen and his men and he
climbs up a mountain and reaches the top, however he is only wearing a
T-shirt and jeans, so he is frozen and he barges his way into an old
shelter, where Jessie already is. So, Jessie runs over to tend to him
and Gabe tells her "They've got Hal! The distress call was a fake!".
Jessie then asks "Fake? What do you mean it was a fake?" and Gabe tells
her "Before they crashed, they dumped cases of money!" and Jessie asks
"Who are they?" and Gabe says "I dunno. They're using Hal to find it.
When they do, he's dead!". So, Gabe chittering away says to Jessie "You
gotta get on the radio and call Frank...and tell him to call the state
police!" and he puts on an old ragged jumper that Jessie gave him. Gabe
soon calms down and get's his breath back and says to Jessie "Let's
take everything we need. Let's move. We got to get to that next case
before they do!".
Then there is the scene where Gabe and Jessie find a cave and rest at
night while Gabe has made a fire and uses some of the suitcase money to
keep the fire burning. So, as Gabe throws on some money to the fire, he
says to Jessie "It costs a fortune to heat this place! Bad humour, I
know." and the two of them snuggle up for warmth and he says "We better
get some sleep. We're going to need it".
Another good scene comes when Gabe is
confronted by one of Qualen's group Kynette (Leon Robinson) who asks him
where the money is, Gabe replies "I burned it. Never could save
anything!". And this leads into the next scene where Gabe get's his ass
kicked by Leon who asks him where the money is, he weakly replies
"Sissy! You hit like a sissy!" but before Gabe turns the tables on Kynette.
WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH REFERS TO THE END OF THE FILM!!!!
And lastly there is the scene where
Gabe tells Qualen to meet
him at the highest point of the mountain range in the helicopter and
Qualen flies up there he sees Gabe and says to him on the radio "I must
admit you are a real piece of work" and Gabe says "Yeah and I must admit
you're a real piece of shit!". So, Qualen points his gun at Gabe and
says of the bag of money that Gabe has "Throw it up, or I'll kill her!"
and Gabe says "You do and the cash is gone! I want you to put her
down!" and he points off to his left "Over there!" which Qualen
reluctantly does so.
And this leads into the climactic fight sequence where the chopper ends
up going over the edge but it remains attached to a cable that Gabe fit
to a rock ladder. So as the two men fight, Gabe ultimately get's the
better of Qualen and beats him up and shouts "Remember, shithead....to
keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all TIMES!!!" and he kicks
Qualen, who falls back into the chopper, which plummets below and blows
up taking Qualen with it. And afterward, Gabe catches his breath and
looks up and says to himself "I'm outta here!".
John Lithgow is excellent in his role as
the ruthless Eric Qualen, the leader of the thieves, even though he hams
it up and puts on a rather questionable English accent, he is quite
effective and creepy as the main villain.
And Lithgow has his share of good moments that include the scene where
at the start of the hijack of the FBI treasury plane, Travers slides
down a zipline to join Qualen and his team on their plane. And Qualen
annoyed asks him "Why didn't you send the money first???!!" and Travers
says "Somehow I didn't think you'd wait for me if I sent it first!".
However as their plan goes awry due to one of the surviving FBI agent's
shooting Qualen's plane (just before the agent himself is blown up by
the charges set on the FBI plane by Travers) they lose the cases of
money, which falls thousands of miles below to the surface. And Qualen
says to Travers "So, this is your idea of a foolproof plan?! You stupid
bastard!".
Lithgow also get's some other good lines of
dialogue such as when he first meets Gabe and Hal who ask what is the
suitcases and he says "Suits, socks, 30 million dollars, the usual
stuff!". Then Qualen takes Gabe and Hal into the plane and Travers
shows the locations of the three cases transponders and Qualen asks them
"Do you recognise these locations?". However after Gabe and Hal say
nothing, Qualen warns them "Let me jar your memory. It you don't
recognize them, you're useless. Useless items are usually discarded.
Right, Travers?!". Travers annoyed by this responds "Get off my back,
Qualen!" to which Qualen says "Off? I haven't even got on it...yet!".
Then there is the scene where the two young skydivers, Brett and Evan
encounter Qualen and his men with Hal. And Qualen says to Hal "Walk
over" and as Hal pleads with Qualen to leave them alone Qualen says
"We're not animals. Don't force us to be. Walk over!". However after
Hal yells at Brett and Evan to run for it, Brett is gunned down and Evan
just makes it as he dives off the mountain with his parachute. Hal
afterward angrily says to Qualen "You murdering motherfuck!" to which
Qualen responds "Kill a few people they call you a
murderer. Kill a million and you're a conqueror. Go figure! Move on,
Tucker! Time is short!".
Then there is the scene where Travers attempts to radio in his own
people for a chopper as he is afraid to go over a rather precarious
looking foot bridge. So, Qualen
grabs him and says "You don't get it, do you?! We're in bed now, joined
at the hip, partners in crime! You've crossed over, Travers, and
there's no turning back" and he moves toward the bridge.
Lithgow's most potent scenes
comes when he actually kills his own girlfriend, one of the thieves,
Kristel (Caroline Goodall) in an attempt to force Travers to help them
find their money (with the use of a tracking device). And in the scene
he grabs Kristel and whispers in her ear "Do you know what real love is,
Kristel? Sacrifice!" just before he shoots her and he says to a
shocked Travers "Now I'm the only one that can fly us out of here!
We're partners again". So Qualen throws the tracking device over Travers
and angrily says "Now take your toy
and find our money!" and he throws Kristel's body aside and he sits
down in the chopper and says "Radio me when you find it. I'm waiting
here!".
And last of all is the scene near the end when
Qualen get's a surprise radio call from Gabe and he says "Walker! You
resilient bastard, so you are still alive!". And as Qualen holds Jessie
hostage in the helicopter he says to Gabe "You get the picture, Walker.
I wan't that money. Meet me at the highest point from where you are, or else I'll find it this little angel of yours can
fly!" to which Gabe agrees. And afterward, Qualen says to Jessie "Love's a killer, isn't it?".
Michael
Rooker is also pretty good as Gabe's good friend, Hal, who
at first holds a grudge against him, but he quickly put his differences
aside as he tries to help Gabe escape whenever he can, by slowing down
the thieves as he guides them to their cases. And its good to see
Rooker, who usually plays the bad guys in his films, play a good guy for
once.
And Rooker has his share of good scenes in the film such as the one
where at the start of the film, where Hal and his girlfriend, Sarah, are
rescued by Gabe as they were stranded up on a mountain (well sort of
saved!). And in the scene Gabe sort of hits on Sarah and Hal grabs his
radio and says to Jessie "Please be advised that Ranger Walker is making
advances toward my girlfriend...that's liable to get his ass kicked
right off this mountain, over!".
Another good moment is when Hal confronts
Gabe for the first time since his girlfriend's funeral. In the scene
Gabe angrily says "You didn't love her and you didn't have to explain to
her family!" and Gabe says "And you didn't have to look into her eyes
when she was falling! Now drop it!" and Hal grabs him and very nearly
pushes him over a cliff edge and he says "NO, BUDDY! It was YOU who
dropped it!". And as Gabe perilously stands over the egde he says to
Hal "You wanna do it? Do it!" but Hal shakes his head and let's go of
him and says "No! You live with it!".
Then there is the scene where Hal deliberately misleads Qualen and
Travers by
taking them the long way round to the next case. However, Travers
nearly twigs this at one point and
says to him "Wait a minute. It looks like a winding route to me" and
Hal says "The fastest way is right up the east face. Of course
there's only about twelve guys in the world who can do it. You wanna try
it?!".
Rooker's best scene in the film comes when he faces off against
one Qualen's thugs, Delmar (Craig Fairbrass) who is about to shoot, but
when Hal goads him to, Delmar instead kicks his ass and yaks on about
soccer. And in the scene Hal says "Hey Delmar, from me to you, you're
an asshole!" and later "In a minute I'll be dead and YOU will always be
an asshole!". And as Delmar is about to kick him off the cliff, Hal
manages to surprise Delmar by quickly grabbing a knife he had in his
trousers and stabbing it into Delmar's leg and Hal grabs the thug's
shotgun and says "SEASON'S OVER ASSHOLE!" just before he blasts him off
the cliff.
WARNING: THIS PARAGRAPH REFERS TO THE END OF THE FILM (AGAIN!!)
And lastly there is the final scene of the film where the bad guys are
all taken care of (in the Jules Winfield sense of the word! i.e. as
Samuel L Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction who once said "taken care
of!") and Gabe is helped back up the mountain by Hal and Jessie. So,
Hal teases Gabe and says "Hey, buddy, you couldn't have put a little
more effort into that climb?! I thought you were in shape!" and Gabe
weakly says "I'm guess I'm falling apart!". And as the FBI agents get
in touch over the radio frequency (and Hal in the scenes talk to them
with a radio he took from Delmar earlier in the film) Hal fills them
in. So, Hal says to the agents "If you're looking for Mr. Qualen... try
about 4,000 feet south of here. He'll be the one wearing a helicopter!
Over!".
Rex Linn is also
pretty good in his
role as the corrupt treasury agent, Travers, who is in cahoots with
Qualen albeit somewhat relucantly, as they both despise one another.
Linn also has some good moments in the film such as his opening scene
where one of the treasury agents Wright (Paul Winfield) calls treasury
agents the most superstitious prompting Travers to says "We should be!
Everyone wants what we have!".
And there is also the scene where Travers transfer between planes to Qualen's plane, but he does it before he
sends the money. So when Travers reaches Qualen's plane and he is taken in, Qualen angrily asks "Why didn't you send the money
first?!" and Travers replies "Somehow I didn't think you would wait for
me if I sent it first!".
Another good scene is when just after Qualen's plane crashes in the
rocky mountains and Qualen demands to Travers "Give me the tracking
monitor!" and Travers says "What the hell are you gonna do with it?!"
and Kynette warns Travers "Don't make him ask you twice! Give it to
him!". So, Travers takes the tracking monitor for the cases and hands
it over to Qualen "You want it? Here! Take it. Its only got 50,000 key
code variations in it!". This angers, Delmar who comes at him and
shouts "I'm gonna break your fucking neck in a minute!" and Travers
angrily says back "Yeah, go ahead and break my fucking neck!" as he
lunges for Delmar but he is held back. So, Travers shouts at them "In
case any of you slept through the landing...you're gonna need all the
money you can find to buy your way out of this country! YOU know it and
I know it!".
Then there is the scene Hal, Qualen, Travers and the others are about to
encounter Brett and Evan and on their radios, they hear Frank come as
he is sweeping the area in his chopper. So, Qualen says "Looks like
we're drawing a crowd" and Travers quips "We're down to a few hours
before the whole fucking world shows up!" and he asks Hal of the cases
"Where's the next one?" and Hal replies "On the tower". Qualen then
asks Hal "How far?" but Hal doesn't respond straight away, so Travers
impatiently grabs Hal by the throat and yells at him "He asked you how
far, goddamnit!! You know what I think? I think we've been taking the
scenic route! NOW, HOW FAR IS IT???!!" and Hal gasps and responds "Half
a day!".
Another good scene from Linn is where Travers get's a lock in on the
last remaining case of money and he says to Delmar "I've got it locked
in". So, Delmar asks him regarding Hal "So, we're finished with him,
yeah?" and Travers says "Yeah and do it quietly. Your insane boss just
made enough noise for anyone within 10 miles to hear us" and he walks
off and says "Its been fun!". So after Hal survives his brutal
encounter with Delmar and (SPOILER!!!!!) by shooting him off the
mountain with Delmar's shotgun, Travers, far off sees the body fall in
the distance over the cliff and he says "I said quietly!".
Last of all is Linn's best scene where Travers finally
snaps, as he tries to locate the last case but instead he finds a bunny
rabbit has the transponder device on it and he goes bananas with his
machine gun and contacts Qualen and berates him on the radio. And Linn
get's some good dialogue in the scene where he says to Qualen "They beat
us! A couple of fuckin mountain rangers beat us! They beat the man no
law agency ever could! And I'm finding that pretty tuckin' hilarious,
Qualen!". Travis then continues his rant to Qualen "It's hard to
believe I sold out after 20 years... and this is my payback? To run on a
mountain with a fuckin' dirtbag like you!". Qualen responds angrily
"Travis, you've lost your mind!" and Travis says "I lost it?! Fuckin
A', I lost it! Pure fuckin section eight!". Qualen then finishes by
saying to Qualen "I gotta go. I'm on my last official manhunt! Adios
motherfucker!" and he signs off and throws away the tracker and sets his
sights on hunting down Gabe.
Janine Turner next is very good also as Gabe's
girlfriend, Jessie, who helps Gabe out in trying to find the cases of
money and to try and reach Hal as well as fight off the baddies. Turner
has some good moments in the film, and her funniest line comes when she
flies the chopper at the start of the film up the mountains and she
sees Gabe climbing and she says "I don't recognise him, but the butt
looks familiar!".
Turner also has another good scene with Stallone near
the start of the film where Jessie says to Gabe "Why don't quit
hoarding all the guilt! You held on as long as you could!". And as
Gabe says "I don't think you understand" Jessie says "I think I'm the
only one who understands! You know there were times where I didn't know
what to do more, love you or hate you. But one thing I do know is that
I understand you".
Then there is the scene where Jessie senses something is wrong with Hal
and Gabe after hearing Hal's responding transmission just after he has
been captured by Quanlen's men. So, Jessie back at the rocky mountain
rescue office says to Frank "He said the tower, but he's on Comb Bluff.
Frank, fly me to the west valley. The winds are never too strong there.
It's only a half-hour climb to the Douglas Shaft. It's the only shelter
around. Hal would have to go there!". Frank however shakes his head and
says "That is a bad idea, Jessie. Hal would have my head!" and Jessie
tries to flatter Frank "And its such a handsome head. Come on, Frank.
I'll buy one of your paintings!".
And lastly there is the scene where Gabe and Jessie
prepare to use the old rope they got to rappel down the mountain. So
Gabe says to Jessie "The ledge is too far. Take this rope and pull it
apart and tie it together. We're gonna rappel down!" and Jessie asks
"This rope is 60 years old, do you think it will
hold?" and Gabe says "Don't think so" and Jessie says "Bad answer!".
Leon
Robertson is also good as the brutal henchman,
Kynette who in his best scene where he confronts and later beats up Gabe
and demands where the money
is.
And at the start of the scene Kynette springs up on Gabe as he pops
his head out of the cave he has just climbed up and Kynette says to him
"Your life is on sale, Walker! The price is 30 million! Where is
it?!". And as Gabe says he burned it Kynette says "Not even a dumb
mountain boy like you would burn 30 million dollars!" and then he says
"I don't make deals, Walker but I'll make one with you. Hand over the
money and I'll just kill you and not the girl! Now give me the money!"
which prompts Gabe to agree but then he lifts his pick axe out of the
snow and slashes Kynette's leg with it as Gabe falls back down into the
cave.
And as Kynette beats up Gabe, he shouts at him "I'm gonna ask you just
three times....WHERE'S THE MONEY??!!!" and Gabe says "Sissy! You hit
like a sissy!" so Kynette kicks Gabe again and he yells "WRONG ANSWER,
MOTHERFUCKER!!". So, Kynette grabs Gabe and yells "GET UP! I'm gonna
ask you a second time....where is the money?!!" and Gabe replies sharply
"Burned it!" and Kynette glares with fury and shouts "WRONG...ANSWER!!"
and hits Gabe in the face with his knuckle duster. So, before Kynette
goes in for the kill, he
get's the film's best line
which is "It amazes me in this day and age that a man would put money
before the personal safety of himself and his bitch! I want you to go
to your grave knowing, I'm gonna treat the bitch RIGHT!" but then Gabe
turns the tables and kills him instead!
Craig
Fairbrass (who was known in Britain for his role in Eastenders) also
makes a decent impression as one of Qualen's thugs, Delmar
Fairbrass
also has another good moment where Qualen's group loses another of
their men and Hal smiles saying "Gravity is a bitch ain't it?" and
Delmar shouts "Fuck the money and fuck you! I wasn't born to die on no
fucking mountain!". And Kynette sarcastically asks "Where were you born
to die? You gotta place picked out?!" and Delmar warns Kynette "I
don't need to hear that fucking shit from you, boy!" causing Kynette to
angrily grab Kynette by his hair and hold his knife to his throat
yelling "Maybe this boy should make your mouth a little bigger!".
And Craig's best scene comes when Delmar kicks the crap out of Hal and
Hal does his best to goad Delmar into beating him up before killing
him. So, as Hal calls Delmar an asshole, Delmar responds "Yeah? Well,
you're
a loud mouth, punk slag, who is about to die!". So, Hal says to him
"Maybe. But in a minute I'll be dead and YOU will always be an
asshole. So go ahead and shoot. SHOOT!!" so Delmar grabs Hal and says
"Who's shooting?" and he headbutts him.
So as Delmar proceeds to kick the shit out of Hal he taunts him saying
"Do you like
socceer? Its a great sport! I was a fucking good striker!" and he
stamps on Hal's calf, who screams out "God, Fuck you!!". So, Delmar
says "You're swearing now! That's a penalty kick! Unsportsmanlike!"
and he kicks Hal a few more times. Delmar then walks back as he
prepares to delivery one final almighty kick and he says to Hal "Striker
lines up at the penalty spot. He focuses on the ball. The crowd is on
its teet. Striker moves to his lett. He draws back his foot. He comes
in....". Delmar delivers one more brutal kick to Hal, which just about
sends him over the edge as Hal desparately tries to hold on, Delmar puts
his foot on Hal's hand and laughs sadistically. Hal however manages to
open the switchblade he took earlier from Frank and stabs Delmar in the
knee with it, takes his shotgun and yells at a panicked Delmar
"SEASON'S OVER, ASSHOLE!!!!" and shoots him off the cliff.
Ralph
Waite also puts in a nice performance as the rescue team's search
and
rescue pilot, Frank, and he has an amusing scene where he does a
painting of what appears to be a banana and he says to Hal "This is a
banana eating a monkey! Nature in reverse!". Hal bemused asks Frank
"Where?" and Frank points at the painting "Right there!" and Hal laughs
and says "He looks like a normal guy...but he's not, are you, Frank?!"
and Frank offended says "Hey, I'm an artist!".
Waite also has a good
moment in the opening scene where he pilots the helicopter while they
search for Hal and Sarah and as Jessies teases Gabe when she spots him
climbing the mountain and says "I don't recognise the face but the butt
does look familiar" Gabe says "Hey careful or you'll embarass old
Frank!" and Frank replies "It would take a heap more than that, rock
jock!".
But its also worth noting in the opening scene of the film that
Waite as Frank appears to have a rather mad looking grin on his face
when Sarah falls to her death as its almost like he was enjoying it! Of
course it is more likely just the expression that Waite had on his face
in that given scene but even still it makes you think "Frank, what a
sick bastard you are grinning at a time like this!".
Caroline
Goodall is also
good in her role as Kristel, Qualen's girlfriend (although it is
actually never
explicitly stated in the film that she is) and she, too has some good
scenes such as the one near the start of the film where after Qualen's
plane crash lands in the rockies and Kristel sends out a fake distress
call, which Hal picks up.
So, in the scene as Hal responds on his radio, Kristel fakes an American
accent (as she is English) and Kristel says "Oh, thank God! Ah, we're
stranded. We were hiking and lost our bearings. We didn't expect the
weather to come in this fast!". And as Hal asks how many people are in
their group, Qualen indicates five to Kristel who says to Hal "Five
people. I don't know where we are. I-- I see only a cylinder-type rock
formation. Over!". So, as Hal tells her to stay calm and he is on his
way, Kristel feigns desparation again as she says to Hal "Please hurry!
Billy's going into shock! Please, we need insulin! Please, hurry!".
Qualen then shuts off the radio and looks at Kristel, impressed, he
strokes her face gently and says to Travers "We need insulin?" Would
you have thought of that?".
Then there is the scene where Kristel rigs a mountain
bridge with explosives, and as she sets it, she says to Qualen "Its
ready". And after Kristel finishes, Qualen watches her and says "You'll
make
someone a fine wife some day" and she replies "You should see me bake a
cake!" and he smiles.
And last of all there is the scene where Frank lands the chopper nearby
as he sees Kristel lie face down in the snow, which is just a ruse so
they can get the chopper. So, as Frank goes to Kristel, he says
"Where's the rest of the group?" and Kristel slowly get's up and the
suddenly grabs Frank's gun and points it at him and says "Welcome!".
Frank looks surprised and asks "What are you doing?!" and Kristel
aggressively says "Now, back off!" and Frank says "I came here to help
you!" and Delmar suddenly appears armed with his machine gun, who says
"You did. Don't move". And at this point, Hal, who was held at
gunpoint by Qualen and Travers is let go and rushes toward Frank yelling
at him to get the hell out of there only for Delmar to then gun down
Frank. Kristel then furiously get's up and yells at Delmar "YOU STUPID
MANIAC!! No one told you to shoot!" and Delmar says "We've wasted
enough time".
And lastly Paul Winfield makes a good albeit brief appearance
in the
film as a treasury agent, Walter Wright who later uncovers Qualen's plot
to rob the US Treasury. And Winfield delivers one of the film's most
ironic lines near the start when he reassures one of the undercover
agents that "Armoured cars can be hijacked, trains derailed but nobody
can touch us in flight!". Travers then says "Haven't lost a bill in 12
years. Don't jinx me now!" and Wright then smiles and says "I swear
Treasury agents are the most superstitious people in the government!"
and Travers says "We should be! Everbody wants what we have!".
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
Getting onto the direction, Renny Harlin (who was best known for directing Die Hard 2 up to this point)
does a fine job with Cliffhanger and he skillfully shoots the spectacular
climbing sequences as well as handling the film's gritty action scenes and
suspense very well. He also creates some interesting visual shots such as the
scene where we see a distant shot of the mountain where on the top Hal leads the
thieves and thousands of feet below we can see Gabe and Jessie work
their way toward finding the remaining cases. Also there is the scene the scene where Qualen's men shoot their guns and grenade launchers, which sets off a landslide and the point of view shot pans from down up the cliff to Gabe and above him, which is pretty good.
The
film's music score is
also pretty good which was written and composed by Trevor Jones, and it
has several tense and dramatic passages which work very well and the
film's main theme is also memorable. The score also has a resemblance
to Jones's score for The Last of the Mohicans and it also even echoes
part of his score for Mississipi Burning during the night time scenes
where Qualen's men chase Gabe. So as a score it still holds up pretty
well to this day.
FLAWS
As
for flaws does
Cliffhanger have any????? Yeah its not entirely perfect.
And to begin, I felt that the story in itself is pretty flimsy and there's nothing
really new there, as its just another cliched story of bad guys wanting
money, and the hero trying to overcome his own demons and adversity. I
also thought some of the sequences in the film were a bit daft such as
the scene where Gabe climbs up the mountain face having just escaped
Qualen's men in the harsh freezing snowy conditions, wearing only a
T-shirt on top, yet somehow he doesn't freeze to death in the process!
And when Gabe finally reaches the top and the shack where Jessie is
waiting and she gives him a jumper as soon as he puts it on he almost
stops shivering immediately, which marks a pretty quick recovery for a
man who almost certainly would have died from hypothermia due to being
exposed to such cold temperatures only wearing a T-shirt!
The
film's violence is also pretty strong and there are one or two moments
that could leave an audience cold (no pun intended) such as the scene
where Qualen shoots Kristel or the young skydivers being mercilessly
gunned down by Qualen's men. The censors were also pretty strict on the
violence in the film and in America they made several trims to the
film's violent scenes and the initial DVD release over here was also
heavily censored. The main cuts to the DVD release in the UK included
the scene where Kynette beats up Gabe and where Delmar gives Hal a pretty nasty kicking.
The film also on some levels could also be accused of being a little
racist, especially in its depiction of the character of Delmar, who in
one scene (which was initially edited in the British DVD release) harbours a
grudge toward Leon (who threatened him with a knife earlier on) and he
says to Kristel "Good, and blow up that black bastard while you're at
it. Save me the time of doing it meself!". This scene and all the
others cuts were of course restored in the UK Blu-ray release of
Cliffhanger which is still uncut and rated as a 15, even though at the
time those cuts were made in order for the film to prevent it from
receiving an 18.
The film also features one or two
redundant characters such as the two young sky divers Brett and Evan who
provide us with some daft dialogue particularly in one scene where the
two of them camp for the night. And in the scene, Brett asks Evan
"Where
would rather be right now? Here at tent city or back home playing some
righteous air hockey?" and Evan says "Air hockey got my vote" and Brett
says "Exactly cheeshead, exactly!" leaving Evan to bemusingly ask
"Cheeshead?" and Brett confirms "Cheesehead". It almost seems like they
appeared to have
been added as an afterthought for the sake of the MTV generation (well
OK maybe not but its just my theory!).
Another problem I had with the film was to do with how Gabe is one
minute shown driving away from Jessie's place, intent on heading back to
Denver despite Jessie's best attempts to try and persuade him to help
out Hal with what turns out to be Qualen's fake distress call. However
in the next scene we suddenly see Gabe up the mountain having decided to
help out Hal! I just think there should have been a transitional scene
in there somewhere that showed Gabe changing his mind, even if he drove
off so far and then decided to stop and turn the jeep around! So, I
just think Gabe's decision to help out Hal should have been handled
better in the film than it actually was.
UPDATE: Actually further to the last paragraph, there IS a moment where we see Gabe make up his mind to help out Hal with the so called stranded climbers in the scene where she tries to persuade him to help. However, its actually pretty subtle as Jessie pleads with Gabe and says "Go ahead, leave! But if you don't do this now, you'll be stuck up on that ledge for the rest of your life!" and Gabe takes a moment to consider her words and he nods and get's in and drives off and that's where he made the choice but I actually didn't realise until now that Gabe's nod was even there! So, yeah that previous flaw is actually a redeemable one and that's on me for not noticing it! ;-)
Another scene
which I found puzzling is where Kristel sets the explosives over the
bridge and while she does it Qualen appears to be holding her at
gunpoint! And you have to ask yourself: if he is then why??? I mean
she is on his side after all and its not like she wouldn't be willing to
do what he asks of her. It may of course just be a poor bit of
perspective in terms of direction and in a earlier shot in the scene we
see that Qualen has his gun held lower down to his side but in the next
shot he clearly appears to be holding at Kristel like "Don't you screw
this up!". Its nothing of great significance but its a small but
puzzling niggle all the same.
I also thought the film had a
pretty stupid climax with Gabe fighting with Qualen in the mountain
rescue helicopter which has crashed and gone over the edge of the cliff
and is hanging by the remaining rungs of the ladder (which Gabe wrapped
around the helicopter's landing skids, which are steadily coming loose because of the
weight of the helicopter.
And the sudden ending (PLOT SPOILER) with
Gabe having dealt with Qualen, they receive a call from the Treasury
agents who are enroute to save them and Paul Winfield's character says
"Just sit tight for now" and the credits role. So in this regard you
wish you kind of saw some sort of aftermath for the characters having
made it safely down, rather than, pardon the pun, just leave them
hanging!
Anyway that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up Cliffhanger is still a
very entertaining and suspenseful action film which has some spectacular
visuals and some good action in it as well. The film does of course
have some cheesy action movie moments and a pretty hammy villain and it
also stretches its credibility in quite a few places especially with its
over the top climax but if you can forgive that then Cliffhanger is
still one of Stallone's most enjoyable action films. And even 30 years on, Cliffhanger is well worth taking a look at and warrants repeated viewing.
So. I will rate Cliffhanger:
9 out of 10
So, that's it for now and I will be back soon hopefully yet another post, which could possibly be a review of The Fugitive (which I don't appear to have done on the blog!).
Until then bye the now!
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