Wednesday, 5 Action, 10:00pm
With Sylvester Stallone tackling a brutal alpine heist and director Renny Harlin ratcheting up tension by the reel, Cliffhanger (1993) is nothing short of an action-packed thriller with vertigo-inducing heights. Stallone plays Gabe Walker, a traumatised mountain rescue ranger facing both his own demons and a gang of deadly criminals, led by the villainous Qualen (played with perfect, icy menace by John Lithgow). What starts as a mission to save stranded climbers quickly spirals into a high-altitude game of cat-and-mouse, blending breathtaking stunts with white-knuckle tension. Harlin’s directing style here goes for maximum impact, making the film as much about the relentless dangers of the Rockies as it is about Walker's fight for redemption.
The soundtrack, composed by Trevor Jones, stands as a dramatic piece of work that’s as integral to the action as Stallone's ice picks and perilous jumps. Known for his work on The Last of the Mohicans and Dark Crystal, Jones brings a symphonic approach, blending brass and strings to create a powerful sense of urgency and looming danger. It’s the orchestration that really captures the film's life-or-death stakes; there's a churning intensity to Jones's score, with moments of sweeping, almost operatic grandeur that echo through the Rockies. Notably, Jones incorporates a tension-building motif that underscores Gabe’s struggle, juxtaposing the rugged beauty of the mountains with the ruthless criminals attempting to control them.
For soundtrack aficionados, Cliffhanger’s score is available on various reissues, with expanded tracks that include Jones’s unused cues, offering a deeper dive into the emotional ebb and flow of the film. While Cliffhanger may not have nabbed major awards, it did carve out a spot in action cinema and is fondly remembered for its fearless stunt work (many still wonder how they pulled off those sequences) and a score that escalates the excitement with every harrowing climb. If you fancy a thrill that keeps both your nerves and ears on edge, Cliffhanger is well worth a revisit.
- Paul Allen