I'd encountered very mixed reviews about this picture since it came out. I put it on my list but wasn't sure whether I'd go ahead with it, until (1) I wanted something thrilling for Halloween and (2) Netflix was about to stop streaming it.
In the Colorado Rockies, Rangers Gabe (Sylvester Stallone) and Hal (Michael Rooker) answer a distress call. Since an initial snowstorm precludes a helicopter rescue, they climb -- to find guns trained on them. These five "hikers," led by one Eric Qualen (John Lithgow), have actually robbed a plane transporting three suitcases full of money, only to drop the cases and crash. The robbers now demand that the rangers help them recoup the cases, which have trackers. It soon becomes clear that the ingrates plan to kill the rangers afterward. But given who plays Gabe, they underestimate his survival skills and determination not to let them get their way entirely. And as other rangers grow uneasy about the paltry radio reports, Gabe's girlfriend, Jessie (Janine Turner), joins the action.
I have to say the opening scene excited me the most. Movies about daring climbers do put me on edge, as it were, and Gabe's first appearance involves an especially insane maneuver. Reportedly, Stallone took the role in part to overcome his acrophobia; I hope it worked. And you just know going in that at least one character will fall fatally.
Apart from the thrills, that scene helps flesh out what's been going on with the three main heroes. Gabe has been out of the game for months after failing to save Hal's girlfriend (Michelle Joyner). Jessie angrily urges him to get over his guilt, but Hal no less angrily wants him gone for good. Well, nothing like a new shared crisis to change that tune.
The robbers are not particularly relatable, because none of them act upset at the deaths even of their own partners. The only one to show the slightest qualms against needlessly shooting an innocent is the sole female villain (Caroline Goodall). Furthermore, this being a bit of a Die Hard knockoff, Qualen just had to have an English accent, however unconvincing.
Truly, the more you think about this movie, the less credible it gets. IMDb alerted me to numerous outright impossibilities. I found at least one part unintentionally funny. Figures it got a bunch of Razzie nominations, even if it also got Oscar nods on the technical side. If only Jessie partook in some unrealistic badassery to satisfy modern viewers.
Still, if you can keep up a willing suspension of disbelief and a taste for R-rated violence and profanity, there is a lot of fun to be had. It's a winning formula applied to an uncommon setting. Some of the stunts I've never seen elsewhere.
Underrated? Maybe. I can see both why a sequel has been planned and why it has long been delayed. In the right hands, it could be the next Top Gun: Maverick, but I won't hold my breath.
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