'Cliffhanger'

After my unfortunate run-in with Clint Eastwood's dull, thrilless The Eiger Sanction ('75), I moved on to the only other assassins-on-a-mountain film I know, Renny Harlin's Cliffhanger ('93). 
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Obviously Cliffhanger, like pretty much every other action movie made in the early-to-mid 90's, is a pure cut-and-paste Die Hard clone - one man takes on international terrorists in an isolated environment, picking off the baddies one by one, etc. 
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As a result, the film is glaringly formulaic, increasingly predictable and incessantly dumb, yet its execution is so crisp and handsome and lean that that it wins you over. Essentially, it becomes a masterclass in satisfying on-screen deaths, all the way to the end.
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Maybe I'm just blinded by nostalgia, but Cliffhanger was like a good old rib-stickin' meal - prepared with the most common of ingredients, but served up in a heaping portion with extra sauce. [B]