Super-tense 'Fall' is very much not about changing leaves and pumpkin spice lattes
HANDOUT
If your idea of a good time is squeezing your eyes closed and moaning “No no no no no” on repeat, you could do a lot worse than “Fall,” which answers the question everyone is surely dying to address: “Wouldn’t it be awesome and not at all risky to climb a 2,000-foot tower in the middle of nowhere?”
As it turns out, bolts aren’t really maintained in these areas, and next time, if there is a next time, Becky (Gracy Caroline Currey) might pass on an offer like this from Hunter (Virginia Gardner) — especially considering the distance that seems to have emerged between them since Becky’s husband Dan (Mason Gooding) died in a climbing accident nearly a year ago. Alas, up they go, and down goes your appetite and ability to fathom the type of dangling and pulling required to survive this simple premise.
Is that enough for a 102-minute movie? Not quite. Director/co-writer Scott Mann pads the story with a cliche about Becky and her father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, for some reason) and a contrived secret between the two friends. “Fall” also doesn’t stick its, sigh, landing, with a finale that is over too quickly (and that might sound like it’s giving something away, but it’s not).
Doesn’t matter. Far better than something like “The Walk,” “Fall” benefits from its height and engages every time something slips or rattles or teeters on the edge. A movie like this is far more about execution and visual immersion than narrative, and Mann, utilizing good performances from Currey and Gardner, succeeds most in the area that’s essential here: making us feel either like we’re up there with the characters, terrified for their safety, or both.
“Fall” is the worst recommendation you can make to anyone with even the slightest fear of heights, and a pretty decent one for anyone with the Roku channel. If both details pertain to one person, good luck with a very tough decision.
B-
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