You've never seen Cliffhanger until you see it in it's new 4k transfer with new Dolby Atmos mix!
“Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner and Ralph Waite star in this high-altitude avalanche of action. For Rocky Mountain Rescue, the mission is almost routine: locate five climbers. With the woman he loves (Turner) and his best friend (Rooker), Gabe Walker (Stallone) braves the icy peaks only to discover that the distress call is really a trap set by merciless international terrorist Eric Qualen (Lithgow). Against explosive firepower, bitter cold and dizzying heights, Walker must outwit Qualen in a deadly game of hide-and-seek.”
Cliffhanger opens with Gabe Walker conducting a rescue mission to retrieve his best friend Hal (Michael Rooker) and his girlfriend Sarah (Michelle Joyner) from one of the highest peaks on the mountain. With an injured knee, Hal makes his way across the line from one peak to the awaiting helicopter. Sarah, an unexperienced climber is understandably nervous as she is next to be sent out over the edge with nothing below her for 4,000 feet. Her harness begins to unravel as she hangs on for her life at the halfway point. With the clip bending and liable to give way at any moment, Hal and Gabe argue on how to save her life. Gabe rushes out on the line to try and save her, but despite his best efforts, she slips from his fingers to her death.
Eight months later in Denver, a team of Treasury officers load up several cases of one thousand-dollar bills totaling millions of dollars to be used in international banking exchanges. In flight, the officers notice that there is an unmarked plane about to intercept them. Before they can sound the alarm, Treasury officer Travers (Rex Linn) kills everyone except the pilot and lowers a tow cable to the plane below them. Just as the pilot is about to lower the cases to the awaiting plane with international terrorist Eric Qualen on board, one of the injured officers foils their plans, damaging their plane and sending the cases plummeting down into the Rocky Mountains and them soon to follow. At the same time, Gabe has come back after almost a year in solitude overwrought with guilt of the death of Sarah, not telling anyone where he was going. This causes some conflict with Jessie, who refuses to leave her post to run off with Gabe. When the distress call from the terrorists come in as a guise of hikers who lost their bearings, Gabe reluctantly heads to their location to back up Hal whom he hasn’t spoken to since Sarah’s funeral.
When they reach the location of the terrorists, Gabe and Hal are taken prisoner and forced to guide them to the location of the cases. After the first case is located, Gabe is able to escape. He does everything he can to foil the terrorists next moves, all the while trying to save Hal from their clutches, leading them on a chase through the Rocky Mountain tops.
Cliffhanger is the pivotal mountain climbing movie. There is a reason there aren’t many of them, as what conflict can there be besides falling off of the mountain? Cliffhanger pairs mountain climbing with a bank heist, a seemingly impossible feat that somehow works quite well. Despite the extremely difficult setting for filming and trying to balance on-set locations with real locations, the scenery can make for some really breathtaking visuals, making this one of the more memorable action-films and bank-heist films of the 90’s.
Stallone was in his heyday back then, basically releasing one, if not multiple films every year in the 80’s and 90’s. Usually having nothing to prove when it comes to action, coming off of Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot may have been a call back to his roots with this film, but his portrayal of Gabe Walker is a very humanizing depiction of a man tormented by guilt for the one he couldn’t save. If you have never seen the film, it’s like many of Stallone’s other action films, and kind of plays out like Die Hard on a mountain. Instead of no shoes, he’s got no coat. There are a lot of supporting characters as well, most of which do an excellent job in the film. Michael Rooker has some great action sequences himself and seems to continuously foil the plans of his captors as they can’t learn to stop making plans in front of him which he in turn yells out to Gabe on more than one occasion. John Lithgow makes an excellent villain which is evident from his subsequent roles. Although at times he can be a bit melodramatic, Lithgow proves to be an unpredictable and ruthless antagonist that will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Rex Linn as Travers was also an interesting mix in the equation, off-balance and at odds with Qualen at every turn. His reasoning behind going rogue and willing to murder innocent people is assumed to be over money but is never really explained. The part of the film that still makes me cringe to this day is basically every scene involving Qualen’s henchmen, save for Caroline Goodall which does a phenomenal job with what little she’s given. The rest are painful action bad guy clichés that fall for every trick in the book and talk too much which ultimately results in their demise.
Cliffhanger can have some cheesy moments, goofy one-liners and eye-rolling performances by some, but overall it’s a pure 90’s action film that unfortunately would never be made today.
Video
Cliffhanger is presented in 4k 2160p Ultra High Definition Widescreen 2.40:1. This new 4k transfer looks stunning, with the HDR brining out those brilliant brights you’ll be experiencing on the pure white backdrop of snow. The picture is very clear, keeping grain at a manageable level with no defects noticed. This film really benefits from the new medium, mainly because of the setting and the breathtaking scenery of the mountains. After watching certain sequences of the Blu-Ray immediately after, the differences are definitely there are the upgrade worth it.
Audio
The audio is presented in a new Dolby Atmos track and is by far my favorite part of this new set. When you hear the capabilities of Dolby Atmos and read about the differences it provides from basic surround sound, helicopters are always mentioned. Hearing a helicopter fly from in front of you, over your head, and away behind you. Helicopters should have gotten a lead credit in the film you see them so much, and more importantly hear them fly overhead. This is one of the films you’ll want to pop in to hear the difference. The soundtrack also sounds phenomenal here, a great score that goes very well with the film. Overall, all levels are balanced very well and no issues noted.
Special Features
The extras are located on the Blu-Ray disc, which seem to be all imported over from previous releases. Here you’ll see:
- Commentary with Director Renny Harlin and Sylvester Stallone
- Technical Crew Commentary
- A Personal Introduction from Renny Harlin
- Deleted Scenes
- Stallone on the Edge: The Making of Cliffhanger
- Special Effects
- Storyboard Comparisons
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Previews
Cliffhanger isn’t Stallone’s best, but it’s a great action film from the 90’s which has received an amazing treatment in 4k. With new video and audio, this is one to upgrade as soon as possible!
