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Title: Cliffhanger: Superbit
Region: One
Genre: Action
Stars: Sylvester Stallone,
John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner, Leon, Paul Winfield, and Ralph
Waite
Writers: Michael France and
Sylvester Stallone
Screen Story By: Michael
France
Based On A Premise By: John
Long
Director: Renny Harlin
Feature length: 112 minutes
Languages: English DTS
Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles: English Captions
and Closed Captions and French Language Subtitles
Packaging: Amaray Keep Case
Chapter Stops: 28
Sound: DTS Digital 5.1
Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year of Theatrical Release:
1993/DVD Release: 2004
Theatrical Distributor:
TriStar Pictures
Home Video Distributor:
Columbia/TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: R
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
"Cliffhanger"
along with "Jurassic Park" was one of the big box office hits of the
summer of 1993 and was Sylvester Stallone's return to action pictures after an
unsuccessful attempt at trying comedies. "Cliffhanger" is arguably the
best "Stallone" picture of the 1990s. The film itself is not entirely
plausible, but then again, many movies with even more fan following would not
stand as close to the very real stunts performed in "Cliffhanger"
especially if you were to hold the laws of physics and known science to them. So
as a "popcorn film" one will probably be more than entertained at the
indulgences portrayed in "Cliffhanger."
"Cliffhanger"
stars Sylvester Stallone as Gabriel Walker, a professional mountain climber and
a part of a Rocky Mountain Rescue Crew along with fellow climbers portrayed by
Michael Rooker, Janine Turner, and helicopter pilot Ralph Waite. While
attempting to rescue fellow climber (Rooker) and his inexperienced climber fiancée,
Gabriel loses the woman in one of the most intense and memorable opening
sequences ever filmed and also one of the most parodied since. Eight months
later, Gabriel returns to the Rocky Mountain Rescue Base and is forced to
confront the issues that have left him at odds with his former partners and
himself as well as plagued his life with guilt and remorse. Meanwhile, a mid-air
heist goes awry and leaves the criminals stranded in the mountains. Portraying
themselves as innocent civilians, the characters portrayed by Stallone, Rooker,
and Turner go out on what would seem to them to be a routine rescue operation,
but of course this turns into a trap. Soon a fight for survival against
relentless international terrorist Eric Qualen (John Lithgow) and his murderous
cronies, who are out to find the lost money. Soon a race to safety pits the
heroes against the villains in a barrage of action sequences.
In terms of performances, as
I just mentioned, John Lithgow practically hams it up as the super villain foil
to Stallone's somewhat emotionally deeper than average action hero. Michael
Rooker and Janine Turner support Stallone well as he begins to dispatch the
criminals in various manners faster than you can say "Rambo." The look
of the picture is outstanding and this new DVD Edition of
"Cliffhanger" is a part of Columbia TriStar's Superbit collection too.
"Cliffhanger" is
presented in an anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of (2.35:1). The picture
looks excellent, capturing the amazing scenery and exciting action sequences
without any color bleeding or compression grain. Some scenes show a bit of
shimmering here and there, but for the most part the film looks very solid and
sharp. The sound is even better with choice of either a knockout English Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack or an English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical
Surround Soundtrack that I think sounded better than my memory of seeing it
theatrically was when it first came out. The separation of the dialogue from
various effects like machinery as in a helicopter or a gun firing coupled with
the idiosyncratic sounds of the emergency radio, the little metallic thumps of
the hooks being grounded into the mountains, the computer effects of a tracking
device like device, and more really give a sort of hyper three dimensionality to
the "Cliffhanger" Soundtrack mix that surprisingly not many other
action pictures in my own personal experience have shared. In short, the sound
is better than the picture quality, not because the picture quality is lacking
in any way, but because this is an excellent sound mix.
English Captions and Closed
Captions for the hearing impaired as well as French Language Subtitles are
encoded onto the DVD as options too. “Cliffhanger: Superbit” is available at
retailers on and offline now courtesy of Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
© Copyright 2004 By Mark
A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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