I was surprised by both Rocky Balboa and Rambo – walking in I expected very little from an aged Sylvester Stallone, and both times he delivered stripped down perfect retakes of his classic characters. The internet has been joking about Sly digging through his back catalog and revisiting his less iconic roles (coming soon: Marion Cobretti. Next summer: Deke DeSilva!), but as Morrissey once said, that joke isn’t funny anymore. Mainly because Sly may be taking it seriously.
According to PR Inside, Stallone is in talks to make Gabe Walker – er, The Dam, a sequel to Cliffhanger. Now, let’s not mince words: Cliffhanger is one of Stallone’s few bright spots in the 90s and sparked his third to latest career comeback (the next would be Copland, and the latest is of course Rocky/Rambo), but do we need a sequel to it fifteen years later? I don’t think so.
Here’s what Stallone does: he makes a good movie or two, makes everybody re-evaluate him, and then he just shits out absolute garbage for the next few years so that he can again make a good movie and again make everybody re-evaluate him. Break the cycle, Sly. Don’t go back to tired territory again. Move forward. Try to make a third good movie, guy. You can do it.