Running Time: 97 minutes
This feature from Lionsgate is now playing exclusively in theaters.
The 2022 low-budget thriller Fall was a unique independent genre picture with a great concept. The plot involved two young women climbing to the top of an extremely tall and remote radio tower, all to spread the ashes of a deceased boyfriend. After completing the ascent, the ladder breaks away, and they find themselves stuck high and in grave danger. Fall 2: Deadpoint is set at a completely different location, but involves a character related to the events of the first movie and includes a lot of the same story elements. You don’t need to have acrophobia to find some of the shots vertigo-inducing, but viewers will find that this follow-up also requires them to suspend disbelief as far as character drama goes.
If you didn’t see the original, suffice it to say that things didn’t go well up atop the tower. Jax Hunter (Harriet Slater) the grieving sister of one of the original climbers, finds herself in possession of many items belonging to her sibling. Jax’s last interaction with her daredevil sister didn’t go well, and the protagonist regrets her behavior. She’s unexpectedly visited by Luce (Arsema Thomas), who introduces herself as a friend of her sister. While going through the materials, they discover the climber’s camera, as well as a scrapbook. Luce states that, in order to get over the death, the two of them should attempt the next stunt planned out in the climber’s sketchbook as a tribute. This involves a trek on an illegal route at the border of Thailand and Myanmar. The journey involves a 4000-foot ascent, and then a narrow plank-walk around a steep mountain precipice that is only used by drug-runners (many of whom perish). What could go wrong? The pair hire guide Jon (Tom Brittney) and start their journey, only to get caught in a downpour that devastates ladder rungs and planks, leaving them trapping and with no means of escape.
The original film’s writer/director is the co-writer on this follow-up, with the directorial reigns being passed to The Spierig Brothers (Undead, Daybreakers, Jigsaw, Winchester), who do possess exceptional visual flair and an excellent hand for action and thrills. The Thailand locations are lovely to behold. And even though the film is full of digital add-ons for its fictional and exaggeratedly dangerous locale, whenever the picture is focused on the trek it’s remarkably tense. The creaking planks, screws and bars slowing loosening and falling away are well edited with great sound design. While witnessing the inexperienced Jax and Luce struggle to attach their safety lines to rusty chains, we know something will go horrifically wrong. And so do the filmmakers, who maximize every aspect of the deteriorating conditions that the leads are largely unaware of.
There are some impressive overhead angles too pointing straight down on the climbers right down to the rainforest below that, even augmented with effects work, still gives one the willies. And, when things finally go sideways and characters are forced to hang on to whatever they can for dear life, it’s literally and figuratively gripping. The actors also do well so sell just how high they are and their fear of slipping off the side of the cliff to certain death.
But unfortunately, you have to accept a lot of silliness along the way in the screenplay. There is already a problem in that we’ve seen a similar story told before, and that many of the same kinds of scenarios are being repeated. While most are still effective, one attempt to retrieve an important item from a great distance late in the picture starts to strain credibility.
And more importantly, the character melodrama isn’t convincing. Obviously, the main thread with Jax is having the character find strength and her sense of self during the turmoil. But there are increasingly ridiculous revelations that result in stand-offs and big speeches, rather than more immediate concerns. And given the trials and the weakened states, these final actions aren’t believable. They are simply there because the picture feels compelled to deliver a big, action-filled climax. And there’s another reaction towards the close involving the scrapbook, that makes it appear as if no one character ever bothered to read past the page with the Thailand plan (and it must’ve been a long flight across the Pacific Ocean).
There are big plusses and minuses to this production. When the characters are focused on scaling, moving along the rickety path and trying to keep themselves from falling, the picture is pulse-pounding. But the human drama, and the attempt to set this picture up as the second chapter in a trilogy, land with a thud and only earn unintentional chuckles. But at least the movie itself is never dull. In the end, Fall 2: Deadpoint zips by and will provide a couple of thrills and snickers to those who keep their expectations in check.
