A late entry in the High Eighties era of action films, Cliffhanger is a highly entertaining popcorn flick starring Sylvester Stallone as a mountain rescue climber. Still recovering from a tragic accident, Sylvester Stallone is asked to return to mountain climbing to help his ex-friend Michael Rooker (screaming his way through the picture as usual) as they get caught up in an air-to-air (very impressive stunt) heist gone wrong. The crowning achievement of the picture, though, is John Lithgow's loony performance as the villain Eric Qualen--a performance that is 10% menacing and 90% hilarious. I love Lithgow's performance in all its fake-British-accent, tongue-wagging, eyes-bugging glory. Falling off cliffs, knifings, shootings, fist fights, stalactitings, exaggerated explosions, and other fatal lapses in logic (where did they get C4... twice?) are the bread and butter of Cliffhanger, but what tasty bread and butter it is.
8/10
PS: Stallone's mouth sags even when he is hanging upside down.
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