When their daring attempt to steal several million dollars from an in-flight Treasury Department transport plane goes awry, psychopathic nut-ball Eric Qualen (John Lithgow) and his band of thieves force retired rescue climber Gabe Walker (Sylvester Stallone) and Gabe’s former teammates into traversing the Rockies in an attempt to locate the loot.

CRITIQUE

There came a time when Renny Harlin stopped making stupid movies and started making dumb ones (he eventually went back to making stupid ones). Cliffhanger is one of the dumb ones, and it’s also arguably the best movie he’s ever made. It’s silly, preposterous, and illogical, but it’s also fun as hell. Given the people involved, it’s far better than it could have been and far better than it had it any right to be, but it’s just as good as it should be.

There’s something very simple--almost primal--about this movie’s appeal. You take the characters a few thousand feet above sea level and the rulebook goes out the door. Watching a bag guy take a bullet and fall six or so feet to the ground is one thing; watching a bad guy fall four or so thousand feet is something completely different.

Imagine if Die Hard had taken place entirely on the roof, or if the windows in the Nakatomi Plaza hadn’t been installed. Okay, maybe that’s not such a good comparison, as it wouldn’t take long for that to get old. But still, there’s something about changing the actual playing field that changes the figurative playing field. Having a bunch of terrorists chase Sly across a wintry landscape wouldn’t be anything special; moving them off a flat plane somehow makes it seem fresh.

Speaking of planes (yeah, that’s an awful segue), this movie features a scene in which a character moves between two in-flight planes. The guy hops on a cable, moves from the open tail section of one plane, slides down the cable, and enters the side door of the other plane. No mattes, no blue- or green-screen, no CG; a stuntman--Simon Crane--actually did this. It’s an incredible scene, and it’s indicative of what you can expect here. Yeah, mattes and soundstage shots are used to make it look like the principals are actually hanging off the sides of cliffs, but the majority of footage features the actors and/or stuntmen (who more than earned every penny of their paychecks) actually scaling insane heights. In this day and age, seeing actual practical stuntwork is a simple pleasure, but it’s one of many the movie employs to create a satisfying experience.

Everything else you’d want from this sort of movie is also here. The dialogue (which is largely the work of Stallone, who was the last writer to take a crack at the script and worked like mad to ensure he’d come out with his first big hit in five years) is often screamingly bad, and the witty rejoinders elicit groans and laughs in equal measure, which is just as it should be. The bad guys, who quite naturally waste a lot of timing running their mouths when they should just be shooting people in the head (more rounds are fired at an innocent little bunny than are fired at all of the human characters combined), meet grisly, ridiculously contrived ends.

Lithgow’s ham-on-rye performance, complete with amorphous European accent, is just right. And if your parents were like mine and wouldn’t buy you your own TV when you were young, thereby forcing you to either watch The Waltons or watch nothing at all, there’s the added pleasure of hearing Ralph Waite (who plays one of Stallone’s co-workers) swear. That’s good stuff (not nearly as good as what his Waltons co-star Judy Norton-Taylor did to shake her image, but good nonetheless).

THE VIDEO

Due primarily to flaws inherent in the original photography, the quality of this movie’s visuals has always been uneven; the 2.40:1/1080p transfer included here--encoded with AVC onto a 50GB disc--is no exception. You’ll notice the split early on--anything shot by Harlin and the main crew looks very good (Alex Thomson’s cinematography is aces), but most of the Second Unit footage and effects shots are washed-out and flat.

The DNR-related issues that plagued earlier releases--a scrubbing away of very fine detail and a somewhat waxy appearance for the actors--are also evident. I imagine some people will be obsessed with the bad, but if you weigh it against the good, the good easily wins.

THE AUDIO

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track included here (which is available in English or French) is one of the best remixed tracks I’ve ever heard. The movie was released with a Dolby SR mix, but what you’ll hear here sounds more like a full-blown digital surround mix.

The movie opens with the sound of a helicopter seamlessly panning from the rear right into the front left; it doesn’t let up from there. The sound design is relentlessly atmospheric and aggressive; winds whip about, rotors thrum all around, bullets whip about, and explosions rumble (the low end is startlingly deep). It lacks that extra bit of finesse and exactitude that’s found in the absolute best mixes, but it’s still fantastic.

No other audio tracks are included; English, English SDH, and French subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

Aside from the trailer, which has been given an upgrade to HD, all of the extras here, which have been culled from the 2000 Collector’s Edition DVD, are presented in standard-definition.

Up first is a commentary by Renny Harlin and Sylvester Stallone. Recorded separately, the two discuss the challenges of the shoot, the story, etc. (Harlin also provides a short video introduction to the movie.)

Also included is a Technical Crew commentary, which features production designer John Vallone, editor Frank J. Urioste, and visual effects supervisors John Bruno and Neil Krepela. If you’re looking for a discussion of the logistical minutia involved in this sort of project, here’s where you’ll find it. 

Two short deleted scenes are accompanied by footage of Harlin explaining why the material was cut (which adds up to a run time of about 8 minutes).  

Stallone on the Edge (20 minutes) is a promotional featurette masquerading as a making-of piece.

Under the heading of Special Effects you’ll find two short featurettes (which run about seven minutes total). The first is really more of a commentary, featuring a discussion by Harlin of how the movie’s prologue was created; the other focuses on the miniatures employed during the climax.

Storyboard Comparisons for three scenes (12 minutes) contrast the original ‘boards with the finished footage.

Another of Sony’s BD-Live movieIQ tracks is also included.

Closing out the extras is the movie’s theatrical trailer (which also gets a video intro from Harlin).

FINAL THOUGHT