Cliffhanger The Rewatchables
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Cliffhanger

Most Rewatchable Scene

Opening rescue and Sarah’s fall

In the discussion (23)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:25Read transcript
  • The rescue opening is a contender for the greatest opening scene, though the novice's ability to reach the summit and Hal's injured knee create obvious questions.
  • The opening's rescue plan is criticized as needlessly dangerous compared with lifting people directly by helicopter; the failed buckle lacks redundancy, and Gabe using one arm rather than both is questioned. Despite this, the scene is cinematic.
  • Hal's immediate hostile stare at Gabe after the fall seems to promise revenge that never comes and remains unfair given his own inaction.
  • Frank appears to smile in the background during the death; wind-induced squinting is a possible explanation, but the effect is unintentionally comic.
  • Gabe returning to Jesse eight months later is a favorite bad-acting scene: mumbling, overwrought dialogue and his greater trauma than Hal resemble a soap opera. Brandt recognizes lines from his own Days of Our Lives experience.
  • The midair transfer is an admired scene candidate.
  • The plane-to-plane stunt reportedly cost a million dollars and was performed for real.
  • Travers failing to ensure all his victims are dead is a major planning mistake.
  • The first suitcase and avalanche sequence is a favorite absurd scene.
  • The villain firing at the avalanche is baffling, while Gabe survives beneath a suitcase.
  • Forcing Gabe to remove his coat exposes his physique, while Hal suddenly worries about the man he blamed.
  • The nighttime sliding fight is a fun scene, ending with the climbing stake stopping the descent and an unconvincingly made-up scraped face.
  • The Leon fight is admired because Stallone takes an unusually one-sided beating before the obvious sharp cave formations pay off; stalactite death is proposed as an Apex.
  • Saving Jesse with another glove pull calls back to the opening, jokingly suggesting Gabe tries harder because he loves her and has no distracting shouting.
  • Frank's death brings another Rooker No and the emotional never-hurt-anybody line, punctured by Lithgow's Touching; the excess is enjoyed.
  • Delmar beating Hal while narrating soccer is the strongest alternative to the opening.
  • His soccer enthusiasm and racism are interpreted as 1993 villain coding before the 1994 World Cup changed American interest.
  • Season’s over, asshole supplies a celebrated payoff to the fight.
  • Stallone killing Travers is another scene candidate.
  • The dangling-helicopter finale is another favorite.
  • The dangling helicopter helps even the Stallone/Lithgow mismatch; a broken arm might have further helped.
  • The opening wins both final scene choices.
  • Hal confronting Gabe on the cliff is the runner-up, compared with Heat’s two-star confrontation.