by Samuel Nichols, Contributing Writer
The 2022 Fall sat in my mind for a while. As someone who chooses the aisle seat on purpose, it felt like torture forcing myself to watch two young climbers stranded at the top of a radio tower. From an artistic standpoint, the acting carried a movie that got lost trying to create unnecessary tension with interpersonal drama when the focus should have been SOLELY on how terrifying it was to be 1000 feet off the ground with no way down. The actors responding to those heights was the best part of the movie. But Fall did well enough at the box office so when a sequel was announced I was tentatively optimistic. Maybe they would learn their lesson and trim the fat. I was wrong, dear reader. Fall 2: Deadpoint is a rehash of all the bad parts of its predecessor. A better title may have been Fall 2: Dead Weight.
After her sister’s tragic passing during the events of the first Fall movie, Jax Hunter (Harriet Slater) has taken it upon herself to see through some of her sister’s daring escapades. With her friend Luce (Arsema Thomas) in tow, they head to Thailand to climb the top of Mount Kwan on some wooden boards. After a rock slide separates them from their guide John (Tom Brittney) and leaves them stuck thousands of feet off the ground, on a plank hammered into the rock face, the two will have to overcome their fear and work together to escape the mountain.
As with the first entry in the franchise this movie relies heavily on making the audience feel the fear of extreme heights. The camera work carries this movie as it conveys the reality of Jax and Luce’s circumstance, but the score and sound help to keep your heart pounding. It’s a tense and stringy score that won’t let you go a second without thinking about how far they could fall. That’s why you pay for your ticket and it’s the only thing that makes the $10.50 worth spending.
Part of conveying that fear is making sure Slater and Thomas can make us care about their characters not falling. Neither of them are giving a bad performance, and what’s most impressive is seeing their physical fear. Their heavy and fast breathing, their white knuckling, and the tension in their faces combined with their screams is tremendous work. Likely very taxing as well, having to strain yourself that much to keep a movie interesting.
Now the other side of the coin is liking our protagonists. Neither of them presents as heroic or even as good people. To be clear, they are not the villains of this movie, but I just don’t think the writers Scott Man and Jonathan Frank made the characters terribly likeable. We get a flashback with Jax and her older Sister Shi (Virginia Gardner), but that’s not our main dynamic. All that’s provided for the connection between Jax and Luce are anecdotes and stories they share about their lives. They don’t really ask questions about each other or talk through exit strategies (but trust me they try a few); just one person monologues and then another does. Hard to like the chemistry between the leads when there’s been none written for them.
If you remember the first movie, you know there is a twist between Shi and her climbing partner Becky regarding their friendship. And then near the end of the movie there is another big twist that reframes the whole movie. Both of these twists are fine on their own, but collectively it takes you out of the viewing experience. Fall 2 has the exact same formula but I found both of them to be just a little more extreme. Ultimately the writing seems focused on driving tension narratively with what the characters reveal about each other, rather than focusing on the tension of surviving a frightening and deadly situation. Akin to having Shaq on your team and only giving him the ball once or twice to just shoot three-pointers instead. Use this setting you’ve found, it’s a good setup. Stop running away to give us more melodrama.
However, there is a solution to fix what’s wrong with the movie and get it back on track. It will inevitably cost more money, but I think it will get the funding it needs. Ready? Here’s the idea! GET TOM CRUISE IN THE NEXT ONE!!! Seriously, he’ll find a really dangerous structure or mountain and climb it. Might just need one or two camera men, a helicopter to film it, maybe a drone. The pulse-pounding acting is already in place and audiences enjoy it. I was not the only one making noise in my theater. Audiences like these kinds of stakes just add star power and I think you will have a legitimate hit on your hands. Fall 2: Deadpoint fell too low for me to objectively say it was good, but I enjoyed myself at times.
Rating: Didn’t Like It
PS – I will be suing if someone actually pitches this to Cruise and he does it. Siftpop.com reserves all rights to the concept for Fall 3: Crusin’ on Down.
Fall 2: Deadpoint is currently playing in theaters.
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