Fall
The more I started to think about “Fall,” the more ridiculous it felt. Overall, I think it executes its B-movie premise well, but gradually, that premise feels stretched to thin. A bit tighter pacing and storytelling- getting the movie down to between 80-90 minutes rather than 107- and this could have been a great survival thriller. As it is, it’s simply good, and honestly, that’s enough in a lot of ways.
The film begins with a scene that basically apes “Cliffhanger,” as Becky (Grace Caroline Currey), Hunter (Virginia Gardner) and Dan (Mason Gooding) are climbing a mountain. Becky and Dan, not far removed from their wedding, are doing so by rope, while Hunter is free climbing. Tragedy strikes, and we go to almost a year later, and Becky is isolated and drinking to ease the pain of losing Dan, even though her father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) tells her than Dan wouldn’t have hesitated to move on. One day, Hunter stops by; she’s become a climbing YouTuber, and she has a proposal- a 2000-foot climb up an old TV tower in the middle of nowhere. Reluctantly, Becky agrees. The women get to the top, but when the rusted ladder falls apart on the way down, they are stuck at the top, with little chance of rescue.
One of the most important things about this type of survival narrative is our emotional connections to the character. I’m not saying it has to be a deep connection, but it has to be something we can empathize with. Becky is broken after Dan’s death. Even under the most generous escapist logic, the idea that Hunter thinks THIS particular climb is what she needs to feel alive again is absolutely nuts, and representative of how cut off she is from her friend. But there’s no movie if Becky doesn’t get up on that tower. Becky is a sympathetic character, Hunter isn’t, and not because of reasons that the film will reveal later. Once the women hit the tower, co-writer/director Scott Mann gooses the tension with ominous shots of how rusted and broken down this tower is- of course they’re going to get stuck. And he and cinematographer MacGregor do a great job making us believe just how insane this climb is, and that their use of wide camera angles and close-ups goose the tension on the climb up. Unfortunately, once they are stuck on top, there’s not a lot they can do to keep the tension going since they are, quite literally, trapped, with no real way of getting down. While I commend the filmmakers for not stretching the reality of the situation too thin, I have a hard time believing that these women- especially one who’s been depressed and drinking heavily for almost a year, with no intense physical exertion in that time, could possibly last a night on the top of the tower without falling to their death, if they got up there at all. That being said, though, there are scenes and set pieces that keep us on the edge of our seats, including an attempt to charge a drone that is bonkers, but also represents Becky getting her fight back. (That will make more sense as the film goes on.) The performances are okay, but we’re not talking about Tom Hanks in “Cast Away” or Sandra Bullock in “Gravity” tour de forces here; the material and mindset isn’t there. If you want a decent thriller to end the summer on, though, “Fall” is worth a watch if you like your thrillers kind of goofy.
