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  Specs
  • Widescreen 2.35:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer (RSDL )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: Dolby Digital Surround
  • French: Dolby Digital Surround
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  Extras

    Cliffhanger

    Sony Pictures Home Entertainment/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 108 mins . M15+ . PAL

      Feature
    Contract

    I remember seeing this film during a Village movie marathon a few years ago, and I was quite dreading it after the horrific run of bad Stallone pictures I'd been carefully trying to avoid, but still accidentally caught parts of (please don't mention his attempts at 'comedy'). Luckily, it's one of his more successful efforts, due in part to director Renny Harlin's ability to find his way around an action scene.

    Basically it's a simple tale of a bunch of hijackers who steal $100 million dollars from the US Treasury in a risky mid-air plane-to-plane transfer, then crash land in the Rockies (though the film was actually shot in Italy). Stallone plays a mountain rescuer haunted by a mishap where his partner's girlfriend fell to her death (in a harrowing scene for those afraid of heights!). He's forced back into action by the film's Designated Love Interest (Janine Turner) when the hijackers send out a phony distress signal, but on reaching their plane wreck, their leader forces him and his partner to help locate the boxes containing the money, which conveniently are fitted with tracking devices. Cue action.

    John Lithgow obviously relishes his role as the badguy and plays it to the hilt, and what the film lacks in think-juice, it makes up for in pace and good ol' fashioned Hollywood fun.

    I had problems with audio synch on Steve's Pioneer DV-505 player and switched back to my Hollywood Plus card (which did not suffer any problems) for this review.

      Video
    Contract

    The picture quality is terrific. Widescreen Review found the R1 DVD had a problem with reddish fleshtones, but the R4 release has no such problem - the colour fidelity is excellent. Detail is very good indeed, and you'll be able to see every crag in the rocky cliff faces that Stallone (or his double) is clinging to. And you'll see every cliff too - the 2.35:1 Panavision ratio is preserved in this anamorphically-enhanced disc. The transfer is even able to reveal that an early dialogue scene was shot on a stage rather than a mountain peak, as the lighting is slightly incorrect.

    No grain, no film artifacts... I'd have to classify this as one of the best Region 4 discs I have seen so far. Interestingly, the optical compositions during the final scenes of the film which looked quite poor in the cinema and on cable looks far more believable on the DVD. Obviously an excellent job by the telecine operator.

      Audio
    Contract

    A very classy sounding disc, indeed. The dialogue, score and effects are all marvellously recorded, and the sound mix is extremely aggressive in places. The film was released theatrically in Dolby SR, though a 6-channel mix was created for the 70mm blowups, and was used to create this Dolby Digital 5.1 mix.

    The split surrounds are used to good effect in many scenes, and bass is deep and full. This mix will really test your system if you attempt to run at reference level, but will reward you highly if it is capable of doing so without strain. Skip to Chapter 20, turn the system up to THX level and see how many inches in the air your subwoofer jumps (or how many speakers you blow!). I know I had complaints!

      Extras
    Contract

    None. Nada. Zip. Not even a trailer. Hmm.

      Overall  
    Contract

    An entertaining no-brainer film, and one of the best film-to-disc transfers I've yet seen. However, with no extras at all, you really have to judge for yourself whether you want to fork out the money to own the DVD, or whether a simple rental or two will suffice.


  • LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=189
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      And I quote...
    ""
    - Paul Dossett
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Rom:
          Pioneer 103(s)
    • MPEG Card:
          RealMagic Hollywood Plus
    • TV:
          Mitsubishi Diva 33
    • Amplifier:
          Yamaha DSP-A1
    • Speakers:
          Richter Excalibur
    • Centre Speaker:
          Richter Unicorn
    • Surrounds:
          Richter Hydras
    • Audio Cables:
          Monster RCA
    • Video Cables:
          Monster s-video
      Recent Reviews:
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