Cliffhanger 1993

Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune: Like the roller-coaster ride Cliffhanger clearly wants to be, the film sends you out pleasantly rattled and wobbly of gait. Read more

Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune: Take away the mountains and what you have is a howlingly bad action film with a cornball villain out to steal a massive amount of United States currency from federal agents. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Cliffhanger no doubt makes for a great coming attraction, but as a two-hour movie its claims are much more problematic. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: Some movies get you so excited - so revved up on action and thrills -- that you almost feel like you're flying. Cliffhanger makes you feel like you're dropping. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The cinematography and gravity-defying stunt performances are exhilarating. The story, alas, is pure routine. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: 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. Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Cliffhanger, the new high-altitude thriller starring Sylvester Stallone, wastes no time in establishing its first priority, that of sending its audience into a cold sweat. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: It's hard to think of a movie my feelings have been more divided on. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Despite the don't-look-down Olympian settings, Cliffhanger's spirit is brutal and earthbound. The movie is like one of those computer-designed simulator rides that whip you around until you're dizzy and aching but don't actually take you anywhere. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: That rasping tension is soon smoothed away, as the plot sets off on its daft and hackneyed course. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Whether Cliffhanger will bring Stallone's name back into the top echelon of action movie stars has yet to be determined, but if this film can't, the task may be impossible. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Cliffhanger is a device to entertain us, and it works, especially during those moments when Stallone is hanging by his fingernails over a three-mile fall, and the bad guys are stomping on him. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: We are not at Cliffhanger for realism; we're there for the cliffhanging, and there's plenty of it. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Fun for the undemanding, but Stallone's 'comeback' should have been much tighter. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Cliffhanger lives up to its title as a two-hour rollercoaster ride that never stops. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Just pull the plug on your judgment, good sense and values. Remember to leave enough motor skills to face forward -- that's where the screen is. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: A predictably thick-headed, occasionally plodding bacchanalia of blood, grunts and testosterone. Read more