"Cliffhanger" is one of the most seen films from 1993. It reached no°10 in the box office ranking from that year. The director is Renny Harlin from Finland who has worked on several sequels to classic movies including "Die Hard", "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "The Exorcist". The script comes from John Long, Michael France and lead actor Stallone himself. For some reason, the Razzie Awards decided to nominate this movie in several categories, which is pretty ridiculous as it is by no means a bad movie. John Lithgow is a great villain (as we know from "Dexter") and Janine Turner gives a decent performance as well. The Razzies really messed up by nominating these two as well as the screenplay and film itself. Turner was probably cast as she played the central character in an Alaska-based television series which was very successful at that point. Snow content seems to be her thing.
The movie centers on Sylvester Stallone, who is sometimes displayed as almost too perfect here. Even when he fails to rescue a woman in the first thirteen minutes, we see that he did everything right. Everybody sees that except him and Rooker's ("The Walking Dead", I did not recognize him though) character. That's why the friendship of the two men is also a crucial emotional plot point as the film goes on. The two go on an extraordinary journey when they get kidnapped by a group of criminals deep in the snowy mountains and have to help the thugs to get back some suitcases full of money.
All in all, I enjoyed watching these 105 minutes. It's pretty good entertainment. There are minor flaws: For example, I did not understand really the inclusion of the two young guys in the mountains who added absolutely nothing to the story. Other than that, I can certainly recommend watching this film and I am not even a great Stallone fan. The fact that I knew Lynn and Lithgow (and these two had major roles) helped me a lot in appreciating this film I guess. Visually, it is pretty nice too. The snowy mountain landscapes are great to watch and I can see how this movie scored three Academy Award nominations. By the way, it lost the entire trio to "Jurassic Parc". I recommend watching it. The first 15 minutes are certainly one of the best intros to any 1990s movie.
The movie centers on Sylvester Stallone, who is sometimes displayed as almost too perfect here. Even when he fails to rescue a woman in the first thirteen minutes, we see that he did everything right. Everybody sees that except him and Rooker's ("The Walking Dead", I did not recognize him though) character. That's why the friendship of the two men is also a crucial emotional plot point as the film goes on. The two go on an extraordinary journey when they get kidnapped by a group of criminals deep in the snowy mountains and have to help the thugs to get back some suitcases full of money.
All in all, I enjoyed watching these 105 minutes. It's pretty good entertainment. There are minor flaws: For example, I did not understand really the inclusion of the two young guys in the mountains who added absolutely nothing to the story. Other than that, I can certainly recommend watching this film and I am not even a great Stallone fan. The fact that I knew Lynn and Lithgow (and these two had major roles) helped me a lot in appreciating this film I guess. Visually, it is pretty nice too. The snowy mountain landscapes are great to watch and I can see how this movie scored three Academy Award nominations. By the way, it lost the entire trio to "Jurassic Parc". I recommend watching it. The first 15 minutes are certainly one of the best intros to any 1990s movie.