June 29th, 2001 will go down in history as the second happiest day of my life (my wedding day earlier this year was my first), as it was the day that I came online and found out that I have been promoted to an advisor of movies here at Epinions.com. Now while that might not mean much to some people, it means a heck of a lot to me. It is the culmination of a lifetime of hard work (OK, more like two and a half weeks, but you get the point). I just wanted to thank Epinions for their symbolic gesture of acceptance for this humble little Socko. I was going to do it in general comments, but heck, we don't get paid for that anymore, so what's the point, right? RIGHT??

Anyway, to celebrate such a joyous occasion, I decided to dig deep into the film vault and make this a truly special moment with a truly special movie. Unfortunately, my hand must have had a mind of it’s own, because it pulled out two pretty lame movies (Cliffhanger and Congo) to review. Ah, oh well, you win some you lose some. I'll go ahead and review Cliffhanger tonight and take care of Congo sometime later. As always, format goes like this: I'll give my Pre-Viewing thoughts, a synopsis of the plot, as well as Post-Viewing thoughts. So here we go….

Pre-Viewing Thoughts: Well, I have seen this quite a few times in my lifetime, but none of those times happened recently. I see the commercials for it all the time on TNT and TBS, but I never really stop and take a look. I think that is because I don’t really remember liking the film all that much. I’m not a Sylvester Stallone fan per se, and after seeing Vertical Limit, I can tell I’m not a fan of mountain climbing movies either. Alas, what’s done is done, and this review must go on. I’m going in with pretty low expectations.

The Plot: YOUR hero tonight is Sylvester Stallone, playing the role of Gabe Walker. Now Gabe is your regular everyday mountain climbing emergency rescuer (I can’t believe that is actually a paid profession) who has retired due to a mishap that left his best friend’s girlfriend dead at the bottom of a cliff. Interesting stuff, I tell you me. Anyway, Gabe’s best friend Hal Tucker blames him for his girlfriend’s death, Gabe’s girlfriend Jessie Deighan blames everyone who isn’t Gabe, and the world isn’t really a happy place. So Gabe leaves town and doesn’t come back for a year.

Enter one year later, where a mid-air tragedy during a hijacking leaves the hijackers stranded in our hero’s mountains. The hijackers, led by Eric Qualen (played by John Lithgow), radio the rescuers for assistance, thus leading to our plot. Once Hal and the conveniently in town Gabe get up there, the bad guys force them to lead them to the three suitcases of money that were lost during the hijacking.

To make a long story short, as is the norm, Gabe gets separated from the group, stays one step ahead of the hijackers by finding the money first, saves Hal and Jessie, kills all the bad guys in various non-realistic and non-sensical ways, fights Qualen to the death on top of a helicopter that is hanging from a cliff by a rope, kills Qualen, overall saves the day, and everyone who didn’t die goes home happy.

Post-Viewing Thoughts: Action films involving the Sly One usually are a little hard to swallow in the reality department, and this one is no different. 90% of the stuff that goes on in the movie would and could not really happen, which still puts it light years ahead of most stuff he’s put out. But forgiving the reality check, this movie isn’t half bad for what it is, which is a neat little movie that keeps you interested from start to finish.

Sylvester Stallone is his usual action hero stereotype self, complete with ironic dialogue and ability to survive any situation, no matter how plausible. I’m just waiting for the day when somebody actually has the guts to kill the main character in a film and still have a happy ending. Stallone’s performance isn’t all that bad, as he really does get into the part pretty well. Lithgow plays an awesome villain, as you can feel the evil just emanating out of him. The other performances aren’t bad either, but no one can stack up to Lithgow.

The direction of the film is actually pretty good, as the story has a nice pace that keeps you interested the whole way through, but doesn’t lose you by moving too fast. The plot and premise are pretty standard for the genre (bad guy wants money, good guy stops bad guy), but the camera work and the location add a nice flair for the dramatic that draws the viewer in. A nice mix of close panning of the actors and far off shots of the mountains do good to keep things interesting. The location is also a much better mountain experience than the recent Vertical Limit provided.

Overall, a surprisingly interesting movie with a nice blend of a cast leaves me with a much better impression than expected. I’ll go ahead and give this one three stars and hope that Congo turns out the same way. Till then, thanks again Epinions for the advisorship, and HAVE A NICE DAY!


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age