Cliffhanger ★★★½

IT MAY be some of the best acting Sylvester Stallone has ever done.

Despite being horrified of heights in real life, Sly plays an experienced mountaineer in the 1993 American action thriller Cliffhanger.

I’m sure there was plenty of green screen work involved, but it does look like Stallone had to suck it up a couple of times to perch himself on a rockface.

Directed by Renny Harlin, the film is best-known for its vertigo-inducing opening sequence that makes it immediately clear to the audience that anyone, except perhaps Stallone’s character, could be despatched at any moment.

And that proves the case as Stallone and Michael Rooker try to outwit a gang of criminals searching for suitcases full of money in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

The gang earlier hijacked a plane full of the cash, but their escape plan was thwarted to the extent they are stuck in the wilderness and need the two unsuspecting mountain patrol officers to help them find the cash and then fly out via helicopter.

There are some great action sequences, particularly the mid-air plane transfer and the final chopper roof fight between Stallone’s character and the lead bad guy, played with scenery-chewing relish by John Lithgow.

There are some large holes in the plot, but who cares when the overall result is so entertaining.