Fall (2022)
August 27, 2022 7:20 AM - Subscribe
After Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner) climb 2,000 feet to the top of a remote, abandoned radio tower, they find themselves stranded with no way down. Now their expert climbing skills will be put to the ultimate test as they desperately fight to survive the elements, a lack of supplies, and vertigo-inducing heights.
Also starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Directed by Scott Mann.
74% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Now playing in theaters.
Also starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Directed by Scott Mann.
74% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Now playing in theaters.
We just saw this in the theater and had a good time.
The characters and dialogue are pretty ordinary (not at all bad, just not that special). But this succeeds pretty well as a predicament movie. The heights/climbing scenes all look very convincing and it's a nail biter through and through.
This is, again, not a great movie, but every single thing about it that is good is enhanced by it being on a big screen. Apologies for telling you that now, as it's already bowing out of theaters. But if you think you might want to see it, see it in the big screen.
Two other quick thoughts... they absolutely lifted the setup on from The Descent: two best friends, extreme sports types. The quiet one loses her hubby, the one with the louder personality makes a point of getting her back out there to conquer her fear... and it turns out a fair bit of that is guilt for having slept with this friend's husband.
Also: couldn't they have used the rope like linemen who climb telephone poles do, to create friction? It wouldn't have held them still, no, but it would have slowed their sliding down to a manageable level... and they could have gone in shifts, with one person shimmying down to the next set of ladder brackets (which were still there after all) and securing themselves, then the other climber passing and going to the next set. They only had to make it 200 feet then they could have climbed down.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:35 PM on September 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
The characters and dialogue are pretty ordinary (not at all bad, just not that special). But this succeeds pretty well as a predicament movie. The heights/climbing scenes all look very convincing and it's a nail biter through and through.
This is, again, not a great movie, but every single thing about it that is good is enhanced by it being on a big screen. Apologies for telling you that now, as it's already bowing out of theaters. But if you think you might want to see it, see it in the big screen.
Two other quick thoughts... they absolutely lifted the setup on from The Descent: two best friends, extreme sports types. The quiet one loses her hubby, the one with the louder personality makes a point of getting her back out there to conquer her fear... and it turns out a fair bit of that is guilt for having slept with this friend's husband.
Also: couldn't they have used the rope like linemen who climb telephone poles do, to create friction? It wouldn't have held them still, no, but it would have slowed their sliding down to a manageable level... and they could have gone in shifts, with one person shimmying down to the next set of ladder brackets (which were still there after all) and securing themselves, then the other climber passing and going to the next set. They only had to make it 200 feet then they could have climbed down.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:35 PM on September 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also: couldn't they have used the rope like linemen who climb telephone poles do, to create friction?
This was my thought exactly. It seemed to me that eventually they’d come to this realization, which took me like twenty seconds to think of. But no.
I was also curious as to why, if you were sleeping on a platform “the size of a pizza” with a study pole in the middle and certain death off the side, you wouldn’t use your rope to secure yourself.
And I’ve gotta say that the fate of the drone was kind of telegraphed pretty heavily, although the subsequent revelation excuses that. Indeed, with the aforementioned borrowings from The Descent, along with a host of other isolated-people in peril (K2, Frozen*, The Shallows, Open Water, and a few others), it was the only genuinely surprising moment for me. I am a little surprised that dish held the weight of two people, though.
*The stuck-on-a-ski-lift one, not the Let-It-Go one.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:56 AM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
This was my thought exactly. It seemed to me that eventually they’d come to this realization, which took me like twenty seconds to think of. But no.
I was also curious as to why, if you were sleeping on a platform “the size of a pizza” with a study pole in the middle and certain death off the side, you wouldn’t use your rope to secure yourself.
And I’ve gotta say that the fate of the drone was kind of telegraphed pretty heavily, although the subsequent revelation excuses that. Indeed, with the aforementioned borrowings from The Descent, along with a host of other isolated-people in peril (K2, Frozen*, The Shallows, Open Water, and a few others), it was the only genuinely surprising moment for me. I am a little surprised that dish held the weight of two people, though.
*The stuck-on-a-ski-lift one, not the Let-It-Go one.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:56 AM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yeah, for sure not that many surprises. (The only one that shocked me was the shoe in the stomach cavity.)
It is, ultimately, a very by-the-numbers predicament thriller. But it's a scary ass predicament, it looks very convincing, and it plays great on a big screen.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:20 AM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
It is, ultimately, a very by-the-numbers predicament thriller. But it's a scary ass predicament, it looks very convincing, and it plays great on a big screen.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:20 AM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
I went to see it at the cheap-ass second-run place down the street for that very reason. I was the only one present in the auditorium for an 11:00 AM showing today (Sunday in the middle of a long weekend).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:53 AM on September 4, 2022
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:53 AM on September 4, 2022
I kinda want to do a double feature of this and The Descent, just on general principle.
No way I'm actually going to watch this - I have insane acrophobia that keeps me off quite small stepladders - but feel that one day it will be part of a Prince Charles Cinema all-nighter which would also include The Fall, Legends of the Fall, Falling Down, The Falling and Peter Greenaway's The Falls for that difficult 6:00-9:00 patch where the only people still awake are running on stimulants.
posted by Grangousier at 11:26 AM on September 4, 2022
No way I'm actually going to watch this - I have insane acrophobia that keeps me off quite small stepladders - but feel that one day it will be part of a Prince Charles Cinema all-nighter which would also include The Fall, Legends of the Fall, Falling Down, The Falling and Peter Greenaway's The Falls for that difficult 6:00-9:00 patch where the only people still awake are running on stimulants.
posted by Grangousier at 11:26 AM on September 4, 2022
Something amazing: the women being at those heights looks convincing because they ARE at those heights. They only used CGI to hide the cameras and safety gear. They are absolutely exactly that high up.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:16 AM on February 17, 2023
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:16 AM on February 17, 2023
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posted by rmd1023 at 12:26 PM on August 30, 2022