The 1993 action-thriller Cliffhanger is another entry in that 1990s high-concept action genre. That era and genre will possibly never be beaten for the sheer volume of quality thrills it delivered over many movies throughout that decade. It is getting a sequel shortly, however Harlin is not involved.
Mark Bianculli wrote the new film. Stallone will return as Gabriel ‘Gabe’ Walker who is now running an exclusive mountain lodge and retreat in the Dolomites in Italy.
When Gabe and a high-profile client are taken hostage during an adventurous weekend trip, his daughter has to use all her climbing skills to outwit the kidnappers, triggering a battle of life and death. Uh-oh, indeed!
Out doing promotion for the Aaron Eckhart-led action feature The Bricklayer (same genre as The Beekeeper, perhaps? Shall we expect The Plumber or The Landscape Gardener next?), Harlin spoke with Coming Soon and, inevitably, the sequel came up for discussion. Here is what he said about Cliffhanger 2:
“To be honest, I’ve tried for decades. I always felt the movie was hugely successful, and it was crazy that there wasn’t a sequel. There was more story to tell.
Now, of course, it’s a long time later, so I have no idea what kind of a story they are planning to tell or what Sly’s role in it is. But I wish them the best of luck.
I hope they don’t try to replace what we did with a lot of CG. Because I think the audience will be able to tell that we did everything for real.
We shot at 12,000-foot peaks in the Italian Alps. It was real stuff, like the opening sequence with the girl falling. It was done for real. That was at 8,000 feet, that wire.
It’s so easy for the studios to say now, ‘We’ll do everything blue screen and create everything digitally.’ I hope they don’t do that because it deserves a sequel with the same spirit of the original.”
Jean-Francois Richet directs this new Cliffhanger, and shooting will start this summer in Europe for a 2025 release.
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