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Wow –
who knew I would be spending a night back
in the 90’s?? Tonight’s 2-fer
was “The
Last Action Hero” and “Cliffhanger”,
both out on Bluray this week. I almost forgot
movies could offer mindless fun, instead
of just mindless drivel. “Cliffhanger”
was a favorite of mine way back when. It
was the movie that brought Sylvester Stallone
back from the brink after a string of bad
comedies. He really needed a good action
flick to put him back on top and this one
did the trick.
“Cliffhanger” was an incredibly
formulaic action flick from start to finish
(what else would you expect from director
Renny Harlin), but who’s to say that
formulaic is all bad? The movie had great
locations, goofy one-liners, avalanches,
aerial acrobatics and the hammy overacting
of the great John Lithgow as its villain.
Really, what more could you ask for?
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I’ve had a great time watching this movie
every time, and the other night was no different.
Lights out, buttered popcorn and Stallone climbing
high, snow covered mountains. Oh yeahhhhhhh.
In case you were living in a cave, or perhaps
climbing high, snow covered mountains all you
life and have never seen “Cliffhanger,”
permit me to fill you in on a little plot. Stallone
delivers an Academy Award performance as Mountain
Ranger Gabe Walker… oh wait… I mean
it was a performance talked about by a couple
of people sitting in the audience of the Academy
Awards while waiting for the show to begin. Anyhow,
the film introduces us to our hero as he is mounting
a rescue of a friend and our hero’s girlfriend.
He saves the friend… but, well… let’s
just say he loses the fire he had for his job.
He gives up mountain climbing.
But just a few months after getting out, they
pull him back in (sound familiar?) when a radio
signal comes in claiming there are a group of
hikers lost in the mountains in need of rescue.
What our hero doesn’t know… is that
the hikers are actually villains who have stolen
some money from a plane, and are now on the ground
after the botched robbery and are looking for
a way down from the mountain. Oh… and a
blizzard is one the way. That’s about the
gist of it. The rest of the movie is a shoot-em-up
in the snow, full of dazzling stunts and gorgeous
locations.
So Sony is responsible for my little trip back
in time as they decided to release both this and
“The Last
Action Hero” on Bluray this week. The
release for “Cliffhanger”, while not
a perfect transfer, does offer a pretty nice picture
for the money. The cinematography is probably
the best thing about the movie, and there’s
little doubt that it has ever looked better. They
also did a nice job with the audio portion as
the surround gets a bit of a workout from this
great mix.
The studio also opted to carry over all of the
special features from the old DVD release, though
none are new. There are two commentaries, the
first by Harlin and Stallone, which is full of
very interesting anecdotes in regards to the making
of the film. Some of the ways they had to pull
off a few of the sequences are quite eye-opening.
The 2nd commentary is by Frank Urioste, visual
effects supervisors John Bruno and Neil Krepela,
and production designer John Vallone all of which
offer a lot of technical jargon. It’s a
great commentary for film school students, but
your average audience might be a little bored.
You’ll also find an old promo piece about
the film as well as an introduction by Harlin,
a look at two of the effects, and a brief storyboard
comparison. Additionally, there are a couple of
deleted scenes and access to Movie IQ, which is
a BD-Live feature full of info about the actors
and movie.
“Cliffhanger” may make some of you
roll your eyes, but I still thought it was a pretty
darn good roller coaster ride.
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael
Rooker, Janine Turner, Leon, Paul Winfield, Ralph
Waite
Extras: Movie IQ; Commentary with Sylvester Stallone
and Director Renny Harlin; Technical Crew Commentary;
Personal Introduction by Director Renny Harlin;
Deleted Scenes; Making of Featurette; Special
Effects Featurettes
Specification: 1080p (2.40:1); DTS HD Master Audio
5.1
Studio: Sony
Release Date: 01/12/2010
MPAA Rating: R
http://www.sonypictures.com/bluray
We'll give Cliffhanger (Bluray) a B-.
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