Product Description

A mountain climber who has lost his nerve finds himself on a rescue mission involving millions of stolen Treasury dollars and ruthless criminals.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 2-MAY-2006
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10796 in DVD
• Brand: STALLONE,SYLVESTER
• Released on: 2000-06-13
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Portuguese
• Dubbed in: Portuguese
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.com
Cliffhanger was a 1994 comeback of sorts for action hero Sylvester Stallone, this time thanks to director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2 and Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) and some spectacularly rugged and vertigo-inducing high- mountain terrain. The opening sequence alone delivers what the title promises, and there's a doozy of an airplane stunt that was later reprised, with modifications, in Air Force One. Stallone, looking as tough and craggy as the mountains themselves, is a rescue climber who finds himself going after a gang of crooks (headed by John Lithgow in his bad-guy mode) who've hijacked a U.S. Treasury plane and crash landed in the Rockies (played by the Italian Dolomites) with millions of bucks. Outrageous action-packed, snow-packed, and scenery-packed chase sequences (featuring whirring helicopters, whooshing skis, popping gunfire, and clanging pitons that earned the movie Oscar nominations for sound and sound editing) take full advantage of the digital video disc's Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. --Jim Emerson

From The New Yorker
For the first ten minutes, "Cliffhanger'' lives up to its title. Up in the Rockies, Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone) and his friend Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker) dangle over an abyss, while the director, Renny Harlin, speeds up the editing until we giggle with nerves. But that rasping tension is soon smoothed away, as the plot sets off on its daft and hackneyed course. A hundred million dollars is being flown over the mountains; a criminal named Qualen (John Lithgow), as brilliant and psychotic as every other movie criminal these days, wants to get his hands on it, but watches it drop out of the air and fall on the peaks. Can Gabe beat him to it? Well, yes, but don't let on. The camera glides and wriggles into places where no man has gone before, and some of the rock-face shots make your head spin; but who cares if somebody is hanging on for dear life, when none of the lives on show seems especially dear? Gabe has a couple of solemn scenes with his old girlfriend Jessie (Janine Turner), but the dumb, catchy pathos of Stallone's "Rocky'' days has deserted him, and we cringe at his efforts to move us. He's not alone; the whole picture keeps missing the target. It aims at tautness and ends up with random desperation; you can never work out where the characters are, or how they manage to burst into view at the critical moment. Harlin hardly notices the landscape-he's too busy cramming together his closeups, one emotional hammer-blow after the next. For all its technical sophistication, this movie is as blaring and unambiguous as a picture book for the very young. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Thin story, good action and suspense.
"Cliffhanger" is one of those movies where the suspense sequences and action stunts outweigh everything else by a landslide (pardon the pun). There's really not much to the development of characters or plot, except that the movie uses the script as an excuse to put its characters in extremely dangerous situations one after another. On this ground, it works splendidly, and while the story and characterization are weak, there are still some good performances turned in by the cast.

The movie sets itself up with the promised white-knuckle action in a sequence that brings on the tension but fails to move us emotionally. On his way to retrieve his best friend, Hal Tucker (Michael Rooker) and his girlfriend, Sarah, from a 4,000 peak, Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone) makes an attempt to rescue Sarah after she begins falling, without success. Hal blames it on Gabe, and Gabe's own self-torment keeps him from town and from his own love, Jessie (Janine Turner). This move, while meant to establish emotion and character depth, doesn't do a whole lot for the script.

The movie then transfers us to a U.S. treasury plane, where three cases of money, in bills unusable except by a select group of people in the world, are being flown across the country. The plane is soon hijacked by a group of terrorists, led by Eric Qualen (John Lithgow). However, his plans are ruined once they lose the cases at high altitude and crash in the Rocky Mountains, where they call for help under the guise of being in danger.

Sparing the rest of the movie's twists and turns, once Gabe and Hal arrive on the scene, they are taken hostage and forced to climb mountains and hike through forests to find the three cases of money, soon bringing more people into the situation than the movie calls for.

The movie chooses to focus more on the action than on the story itself, which really isn't that bad a move. From the high-altitude stunts to the white-knuckle suspense generated by the scenes charged with high-octane suspense, the movie doesn't lose its ability to get our attention with actors hanging on the edges of cliffs and mountains, holding on for dear life.

The tension generated by the terrorists is, at best, mediocre. Even under the shadow of leader Lithgow, whose flair for turning a colorful phrase at every moment is funny yet unsettling, the movie never really gives us any reason to fear the henchmen along for the climb. There are certain moments, such as that in which the only black terrorist hunts Gabe and Jessie in a cavern, or when Gabe is trapped beneath an ice-covered lake. However, the only people the terrorists knock off we aren't given too much time to know, so what reason do we have to care?

Stallone is back in fine form, the action hero we've always admired from his earlier "Rocky" days. He's required to carry a lot of the heroism on his shoulders, and big as those shoulders are, that is no easy task. Yet, he is able to pull it off, with the help of Rooker and Turner, who give jobs well done in their roles.

While not the best action film ever made, "Cliffhanger" is a commendable piece of suspense that works due to its breathtaking action sequences and the altitude of its settings. It tends to drag in places, but really, with a movie that's so focused on getting us into a sweat, what does it matter?

Stallone fan
Can't help it, I'm a Stallone fan (though I didn't care for the dingy movie with Dolly), but this one is great for the collection. I started following this actor with all the Rocky movies, then Rambo, etc. This movie has the unforgettable death scene that hooks you in the beginning, and the stunts with the 'plane' that follow are excellent. When you mix mountain climbing with lots of snow and ice, and toss in some bad guys, there's bound to be a lot of action. The movie hasn't edged out the Rocky and Rambo movies as my favorites, but it's a good Stallone flick.
Chrissy K. McVay - Author

Edge of Your Seat ... er, Cliff
This is a nail-biter of a movie. There are many points that keep you on the edge of your sear, er, cliff. The cinematography is excellent and so is the acting. Although the setting is snow-covered mountains, it is viewable any time of the year (watching during a snow storm is especially gripping). This is better than many of the summer block-buster movies we have seen in the past ten years, so give it a try.