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Cliffhanger

Play trailer 1:56 Poster for Cliffhanger R 1993 1h 52m Action Adventure Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
68% Tomatometer 56 Reviews 53% Popcornmeter 100,000+ Ratings
Outdoor thriller in which a former mountain rescuer is pitted against a group of criminals who have lost their $100 million stash during a plane crash in the Rocky Mountains. After being persuaded to help rescue a group of stranded hikers, he discovers that they are in fact a gang of violent robbers who need help to locate their missing loot.
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Cliffhanger

Cliffhanger

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Critics Consensus

While it can't escape comparisons to the movies it borrows from, Cliffhanger is a tense, action-packed thriller and a showcase for the talents that made Sylvester Stallone a star.

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Critics Reviews

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David Ansen Newsweek 04/10/2018
Cliffhanger does its damnedest to see that the audience gets its money's worth of thrills. But for all the state-of-the-art stunt work, the movie has little personality; it's ice cream without flavor. Go to Full Review
Christopher Harris Globe and Mail 08/03/2013
3/4
it has truly awe-inspiring stunts and special effects and many of its suspense sequences will leave you with your heart in your mouth. Go to Full Review
Jeff Shannon Seattle Times 08/03/2013
2/4
The fact that so much money was lavished on such a thick-headed project represents the height of fiscal ineptitude, but this is the kind of roller-coaster ride for which eager audiences will gladly check their brains at the turnstiles, so go figure. Go to Full Review
Patrick Hicks Feelin' Film Podcast 01/08/2024
4/5
Big alpine action with megastar Sylvester Stallone taking on dual thieving villains in a treacherous mountain setting makes this a defining 90s movie thriller, full of quotable one-liners and memorable set pieces and kills. Go to Full Review
Fedor Tot Vague Visages 06/13/2023
What I would give for more films with Cliffhanger’s sense of scale and spectacle. Go to Full Review
Alistair Lawrence Common Sense Media 06/09/2021
2/5
The main thing that lets Cliffhanger down is a plot as thin as the high-altitude air that surrounds it. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Taiga B Aug 7 This may be one of Stallone's better movies. The over the top explosions and gun play is limited to a minimum, creating a more polished and grounded in reality movie. The special effects and stunts are incredible, showing the harsh conditions of the Colorado mountains. A scene that starts off the movie shows that Stallone is not this invisible character, showing vulnerability. This is why 90's action movies are some of the best for that genre. See more Jacob B Jun 28 Yeah, Die Hard 2 and The Long Kiss Goodnight were better entries in Renny Harlin's filmography than Cliffhanger. Cliffhanger isn't a bad movie, I was just expecting Harlin to have knocked this film out of the park the same way Jan de Bont would do with Speed a year later. On the other hand, a Razzie nomination for Worst Picture was a bit much when this wasn't even critically lambasted to begin with. Cliffhanger certainly has its thrilling moments, surprisingly good score, entertaining villains and mostly good performances all around (wait, GOTG Vol. 2 was a REUNION for Stallone and Michael Rooker?) but it also has some ludicrous moments such as Stallone not being affected by hypothermia + implausible stuntwork, some unintentionally hilarious moments such as in that harrowing prologue when this old guy looks like he's smiling and we, the viewers, can blatantly see it, taking us out of the moment and probably peaking too early. I find it ironic that the best moments from the film are the scene set before the plot kicks off and, when it does get going, doesn't have Stallone or anybody he has a personal connection to involved. The latter has that iconic stunt but there's also the way one character goes out like a boss and is pretty much the instigator of the villains' impending doom. While the rest of the movie does have moments that are either awesome or funny, it never quite reaches the same heights as those scenes did. Not bad for a more altitude-focused Die Hard clone but given the choice between the two, I'd take Speed in a heartbeat. See more Shaun R @Shaun666 Jun 8 Entertaining 90s action with some memorable scenes. One of the better actions of that era. See more Alec B Apr 4 Enormously silly but very entertaining. We forget that there was a time when Renny Harlin's maximalist approach to action movies yielded good results. See more thiago s @Thiagostone Mar 1 Filme bacana, o roteiro é bacaninha, as cenas até que foram bacaninhas, o elenco até que é bacaninha e ajuda a melhorar um pouco o filme, mas a história do stallone ser um alpinista e as cenas serem nas montanhas fez o filme ficar um pouco fraco, akgumas cenas até deram uma salvada no filme. See more Craig B 11/09/2024 One of the best action movies of all time. Lithgow plays a classic villain. See more Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis Outdoor thriller in which a former mountain rescuer is pitted against a group of criminals who have lost their $100 million stash during a plane crash in the Rocky Mountains. After being persuaded to help rescue a group of stranded hikers, he discovers that they are in fact a gang of violent robbers who need help to locate their missing loot.
Director
Renny Harlin
Producer
Alan Marshall
Screenwriter
Michael France, Sylvester Stallone
Distributor
TriStar Pictures
Production Co
Canal+, Carolco Pictures Inc.
Rating
R
Genre
Action, Adventure, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 28, 1993, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
May 8, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA)
$80.5M
Runtime
1h 52m
Sound Mix
Surround
Aspect Ratio
Digital 2.39:1
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