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Dom Robinson reviews

Cliffhanger

Hang on.

Distributed by
Momentum Pictures


"Ow, that's gotta hurt!", must be the words going through Gabe Walker's (Sylvester Stallone) mind when a freak accident in the mountains leads to the death of his friend Hal's (Michael Rooker) girlfriend Sarah (Michelle Joyner) as she plummets to a rocky end, surprisingly to the delight of their pilot (watch in amazement how he never stops grinning!)

Eight months later, Gabe and Hal are back amongst the heights with a new pilot, Jessie (Northern Exposure's Janine Turner), just as their peace is to be shattered once again with the devilish Qualen (John Lithgow) and accomplices including Kristel (Caroline Goodall), police turncoat Travers (Rex Linn) and a star from Eastenders, Delmar (Craig Fairbrass). Their paths cross since an aeroplane accident leaves three suitcases stuffed with cash - $100m to be exact - being dropped into the perilous mountain range and two entire planes going down with them, leading them to using our heroes to search for it on their behalf.

Hugely enjoyable upon its release and just as much so now, director Renny Harlin, once married to Geena Davis, presses all the right action buttons he managed with Die Hard 2 and The Long Kiss Goodnight and provides a real non-stop near-two hours of entertainment.

Also, it may be that the UK DVD release is finally uncut. The previous versions in the cinema and on video and laserdisc were chopped to a 15-certificate. Scenes that were edited included a grisly end for a baddie in a cave, getting informed of the difference between stalactites and stalagmites. The disc I received for review, though, was printed with German text on the disc itself so I am gladly watching the fully uncut version.


I have absolutely no complaints with the picture. Artifact-free, it's in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio - always fully employed by Harlin - and is anamorphic. The average bitrate is 5.93Mb/s, briefly peaking over to 9Mb/s.

A remastered Dolby Digital soundtrack is available in English only (Germans get surround sound) and it rocks aplenty such as with avalanches, explosions, a plane crash, gunfire and more explosions. Dialogue is clear too, except for Stallone :)


In the extras dept., the first trailer, in non-anamorphic 1.66:1, lasts two minutes and is the dialogue-free cinema trailer with clips from the film mixed in with a piece of classical music, the name of which escapes me at the moment, while the second, running for 90 seconds, is a not dissimilar but uses Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, the classical piece used in Apocalypse Now when the choppers move in.

Behind-the-scenes shows the film's rushes for 4½ minutes and the Making Of spends seven minutes mixing film clips in with interview footage, leading us onto the Interviews - another 7½ minutes of raw interview footage with Stallone, Michael Rooker, John Lithgow, Janine Turner and director Renny Harlin. Finally, the Photo Gallery contains 24 still shots from the film.

There are 24 chapters, which is fine and subtitles are available in English, German, Dutch and Turkish. The main menu is animated and scored with a clip from the film and there are animated swipes between the menus.

The English subtitles have a lot to answer for at times in the translation. When things go wrong for the bad guys and one says "Kill the pig" to the cop, 'pig' between 'swine', to which he replies, "Kill the pig, my ass!", which is translated as "Lick my ass!". Oh well, whatever turns him on! :)

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS



OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.

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