A few years passed, and Becky relied on alcohol to drown out the pain of losing her husband. This concerns his father, James (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), so he contacted her best friend for help.
Hunter, who is now an Instagram celebrity, proposes that they climb an abandoned 2,000-foot TV tower in the middle of nowhere. Becky reluctantly agrees.
As they start to climb the old tower, things start to go awry immediately after they reach the top. The only ladder in the tower collapsed because of rust and age. Now they’re thousands of feet up in the air with nowhere to go and no one in sight to help them. They must rely on the few resources they have to climb down and ask for help.
Scott Mann is slowly making a name for himself, starting off his career with “The Tournament” and strongly following it up with hardcore action films like “Heist” and “Final Score”. Although not really an action film, "Fall" has the makings of one and it arguably executed the nuances of the genre better than most films nowadays.
Needless to say, this film is a heart-pounding, vomit-inducing, and palm-sweating full-length feature. Despite the small story it has, it makes up for it with its grand vision and Mann’s chokehold on the overall narrative. The build up of the tension and the interesting scenarios and circumstances the film puts the characters through is insane. From dangling in the air to fighting off vultures, "Fall" never runs out of ideas to use the elements against the protagonists. Anyone that’s a fan of the trapped horror subgenre would be delighted to watch it as it unapologetically embraces all the tropes that make it exciting.
Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner bring their A game in this film, as well. It’s a tall order to pull off a convincing performance in a movie like this. But dissolving into the story is so easy with their dedication to the physicality and the extremity of the premise.
The problem with "Fall" is that there is nothing to latch onto. The reason that they’re climbing a very dangerous tower is silly and lousy at the same time. Honestly, there are far more meaningful things to do besides going up an abandoned tower. And this isn’t exactly how people should overcome grief. Not to mention that the climb is for Hunter’s clout. Everything else, such as Becky's moving on, is just consolation in the context of the narrative. In short, the film offers too little rationale for the audience to root for them. It all seems pointless from the start up until the end.
There is also a lot of unnecessary stuff mixed in there as well, like the dream sequences, the secret reveal, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It got that feeling that this wasn’t meant to be a feature film at all. The idea feels short, yet the filmmakers stretched it too wide to tap into multiple subjects such as trauma and friendship.
In essence, “Fall” is fairly decent. At least to me. The script leaves nothing to be desired, but the cast gave their all and the tension was great. I got what I wanted from this subgenre. Scott Mann knows how to direct his thrillers, and he’s definitely a person to look out for in the realm of horror and action films.
3.5
