History YMMV / Cliffhanger

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Trevor Jones's score for this film sounds similar to Michel Legrand's score for ''Film/IceStationZebra'' (listen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOuhC-MNTZ4 here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDNdJz88h3M here]] for a comparison).

* HarsherInHindsight:
** Craig Fairbrass plays Delmar, who [[spoiler:guns down a friend of a protagonist, much to the devastation of the latter, who even cries out a BigNo. Then in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2'', rather than playing the provoker again, Fairbrass gets on the ''receiving end'' of it as Ghost. Ghost's friend Roach would be killed by General Shepard right in front of Ghost that prompted him to give out a BigNo in response before being killed him not long after, ironically the same way Delmar is killed after causing a tragedy: a high caliber gunshot wound to the chest on a mountain.]] Ironically in the film, Delmar complains he wasn't born to die on a mountain, while [[spoiler:Ghost from the same game would die on a mountain himself]].
** The moment Walker drops Sarah and she starts to fall is eerily similar to a video of a man desperately trying to climb out of the burning floors of the World Trade Center and eventually losing his grip.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Craig Fairbrass's character [[spoiler:killing]] a character named Frank is ironic, considering he and his fellow villain Rex Linn both played police detectives with the first name Frank on crime drama television shows (Fairbrass played DI Frank Burkin on ''Series/PrimeSuspect'', while Linn would later be renowned for his role as Det. Frank Tripp on ''Series/CSIMiami'').
** It can be considered ironic to see Tucker vs. Delmar in a showdown scene, since the actors who played the aforementioned characters, Creator/MichaelRooker and Craig Fairbrass, would both later play TheLancer in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise. Thus, this scene can be viewed as [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII Mike Harper]] vs. [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Gaz/Ghost/Wallcroft]] or, game production studio-wise, a Treyarch mo-cap actor vs. an Infinity Ward voice actor. Then in May 2021, it is announced the film's star Creator/SylvesterStallone's iconic ActionHero role ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZXxefZtBnI will be featured in]] ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsColdWar'' and ''Call of Duty: Warzone''.
** Fairbrass plays a character, which was part of his early typecasting at the time with ''For Queen and Country'' and the television show ''Prime Suspect'' being other examples, who is a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain who hates ScaryBlackMan Kynette's guts and lashes out racial slurs against him like "boy" and "black bastard". Then in 2016, Fairbrass would make a cameo appearance in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise's latest installment ''VideoGame/CallofDutyInfiniteWarfare'' in the first level as a ''black'' NPC ally character named [[http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Tee Tee]]. The fact Fairbrass's character's rivalry with a ScaryBlackMan becomes funnier later on as Fairbrass's BreakoutCharacter Ghost (who is voiced by TheOtherDarrin) would be featured in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyMobile'' and would have an EvilCounterpart in form of another ScaryBlackMan named Mace.
** Fairbrass's character gets defeated by being stabbed in the leg just before getting killed, while Fairbrass would later appear in ''Series/{{One Piece|2023}}'' as Chef Zeff who lost his leg and now walks with a peg leg.
** [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Originally]], this project was meant to be a Creator/JohnHughes-directed comedy starring Stallone and Creator/JohnCandy. Interestingly, Leon, who plays TheDragon Kynette, who gets ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice by Stallone, would later around the same year the film was released star opposite Candy in the Creator/{{Disney}} film ''Film/{{Cool Runnings}}''.
** Qualen comments to Kristel, who is planting a C4 booby trap, that she'll make a good wife one day, which is funny as Kristel's actress Creator/CarolineGoodall does in fact play a good wife to TheHero in Creator/StevenSpielberg's flick ''Film/SchindlersList'', which was released the very same year as this film.
** Goodall early in the film [[BriefAccentImitation affects a very convincing American accent during a fake distress radio call]]. Goodall's ability to do an authentic FakeAmerican accent would come in handy for her acting career later on when in 2018, Goodall would play the President of the United States in ''Film/HunterKiller''.
** Walker and Tucker [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 would go on to be old friends]] [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]
** John Lithgow in this movie approached his villainous character as a FakeBrit, and as a result earned a Razzie nomination for his fake accent. Cut to ''Series/TheCrown2016'', where Lithgow once again plays a FakeBrit as UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill and earned acclaim and numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe nomination and an Emmy.
** When bickering with Delmar, Kynette threatens him with his hunting knife and does a pose that is similar to the battle pose of another ScaryBlackMan, Erik Stevens (played by Creator/MichaelBJordan, who would later co-star with the movie's star Stallone in ''Film/{{Creed|2015}}''), when he is surrounded by his opponents in ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}''.
** Craig Fairbrass plays a British member of a gang of aerial bank robbers in this film. Then came ''VideoGame/BattlefieldV'', where Fairbrass plays a Special Boat Service officer in World War II who recruits a British bank robber who happens to be the PlayerCharacter to fight in the front lines, only this time to hop off a boat to fight on the ground (and during a rainstorm nonetheless, which is not unlike how the villains invade the hero's home town in the script for the ''Die Hard''-in-a-hurricane project ''Gale Storm'' [[WhatCouldHaveBeen before]] it turned into this film) rather than off a plane as Fairbrass did in this film. On top of that, when Fairbrass's character does a brief impersonation of the bank robber father in the game, the line he says ("I'm Arthur fucking Bridger, gimme the fucking money!") feels like a paraphrasing of Fairbrass's ClusterFBomb line in this film: "FUCK THE MONEY AND FUCK YOU! I WASN'T BORN TO DIE ON A FUCKING MOUNTAIN!"
** With Creator/JanineTurner's work on ''Film/MonkeyShines'' and Creator/MichaelRooker's work on ''Film/TheDarkHalf'' in mind, the fact that [[Creator/JanineTurner two]] [[Creator/MichaelRooker actors]] who earlier worked with Creator/GeorgeARomero are coupled with two actors who would voice characters in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise, as Romero would voice himself in the franchise's ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyZombies'' DLC ''Call of the Dead'' (where Rooker makes his debut in the video game franchise AsHimself prior to portraying Harper and is once again being directed by Romero after ''Literature/TheDarkHalf'').

** Delmar is played by [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Gaz/Ghost/Wallcroft]].

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Anyone these days who are familiar with his more recent heroic and likable performances in video games such as ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' and ''VideoGame/BattlefieldV'' and mostly recently as Chef Zeff in the Creator/{{Netflix}} show ''Series/OnePiece'' would be quite surprised at Craig Fairbrass's range, as he plays an utterly monstrous and despicable character in this film.

** Fairbrass's character gets defeated by being stabbed in the leg just before getting killed, while Fairbrass would later appear in ''Series/OnePiece'' as Chef Zeff who lost his leg and now walks with a peg leg.

** When bickering with Delmar, Kynette threatens him with his hunting knife and does a pose that is similar to the battle pose of another ScaryBlackMan, Erik Stevens (played by Creator/MichaelBJordan, who would later co-star with the movie's star Stallone in ''Film/{{Creed}}''), when he is surrounded by his opponents in ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}''.

** Fairbrass's Character gets defeated by being stabbed in the leg just before getting killed, while Fairbrass would later appear in ''Series/OnePiece'' as Chef Zeff who lost his leg and now walks with a peg leg.

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Anyone these days who are familiar with his more recent heroic and likable performances in video games such as ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' and ''VideoGame/BattlefieldV'' and mostly recently as Chef Zeff in the Creator/Netflix show ''Series/OnePiece'' would be quite surprised at Craig Fairbrass's range, as he plays an utterly monstrous and despicable character in this film.

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Anyone these days who are familiar with his more recent heroic and likable performances in video games such as ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' and ''VideoGame/BattlefieldV'' would be quite surprised at Craig Fairbrass's range, as he plays an utterly monstrous and despicable character in this film.

** It can be considered ironic to see Tucker vs. Delmar in a showdown scene, since the actors who played the aforementioned characters, Creator/MichaelRooker and Craig Fairbrass, would both later play TheLancer in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise. Thus, this scene can be viewed as [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII Mike Harper]] vs. [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Gaz/Ghost/Wallcroft]] or, game production studio-wise, a Treyarch mo-cap actor vs. an Infinity Ward voice actor.
*** Then in May 2021, it is announced the film's star Creator/SylvesterStallone's iconic ActionHero role ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZXxefZtBnI will be featured in]] ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsColdWar'' and ''Call of Duty: Warzone''.
** Fairbrass plays a character, which was part of his early typecasting at the time with ''For Queen and Country'' and the television show ''Prime Suspect'' being other examples, who is a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain who hates ScaryBlackMan Kynette's guts and lashes out racial slurs against him like "boy" and "black bastard". Then in 2016, Fairbrass would make a cameo appearance in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise's latest installment ''VideoGame/CallofDutyInfiniteWarfare'' in the first level as a ''black'' NPC ally character named [[http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Tee Tee]].
*** The fact Fairbrass's character's rivalry with a ScaryBlackMan becomes funnier later on as Fairbrass's BreakoutCharacter Ghost (who is voiced by TheOtherDarrin) would be featured in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyMobile'' and would have an EvilCounterpart in form of another ScaryBlackMan named Mace.

*** Speaking of Kristel, Goodall early in the film [[BriefAccentImitation affects a very convincing American accent during a fake distress radio call]]. Goodall's ability to do an authentic FakeAmerican accent would come in handy for her acting career later on when in 2018, Goodall would play the President of the United States in ''Film/HunterKiller''.

** Speaking of which, Frank's facial expression during the failed rescue scene at the beginning looks more like he's grinning maniacally at the situation, when it's supposed to be a grimace.

* FirstInstallmentWins: At least one contemporary critic noted that the opening scene is so memorable, horrific, and intense, that the rest of the movie suffers by comparition.

----

* EnsembleDarkhorse:

-->'''Travers''' Get off my back, Qualen.
-->'''Qualen''': Off? I haven't even got ''on'' it, yet.

*** [[NewbieBoom Delmar eventually became popular amongst some film viewers who are also video gamers]], due to a form of RetroactiveRecognition of the character being played by Craig Fairbrass, who would later become known for his voice acting in the ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Call of Duty: Modern Warfare]]'' trilogy, especially his performance as [[BreakoutCharacter Ghost]] from ''Modern Warfare 2''. Some viewers see Delmar as an EvilCounterpart {{Foil}} to his actor's later ''Call of Duty'' characters due to some similarities they share (for example, Delmar wears a brown vest like Gaz from the first ''Modern Warfare'' game, carries a submachine gun that looks like the very same one Wallcroft carries from the third ''Modern Warfare'' game, and wears a black jumpsuit throughout the film like Gaz's SAS attire in the first ''Modern Warfare'' game's level "Crew Expendable" and Wallcroft's default SAS clothing). Aside from this fact and the comparisons, Delmar is also singled out for being a badass himself, like his SlowMotion kill of [[spoiler:Frank]], his [[HiddenDepths self-mentioned background as a former soccer player]], and his unique soccer-kicking torture of Tucker.