Movie Review: Fall (2022)

Synopsis: A year after her husband was killed while trying to climb a mountain, Becky Connor's friend, Shiloh Hunter, convinces her to move on with her life by spreading his ashes from an abandoned 2,000-foot radio tower. They succeed in doing that but, as they try to descend, the ladder breaks away, leaving them stranded at the top with limited supplies and no cell phone service.

Who's in it? The movie stars Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Mason Gooding and Jasper Cole.

Review: My 13-year-old daughter asked us to get this movie and my wife rented it from Redbox earlier today. We watched it while eating dinner and I have to admit, it was a lot better than expected.

I think the setting of the movie is what made it memorable. I'm not a big fan of heights and seeing them climb that tall, narrow and rusted tower had my anxiety acting up a bit, especially when they were doing some very stupid things, like hanging from the side of the tower without any sort of safety equipment. As I've said in the past, the setting goes a long way toward making a thriller thrilling.

The movie also wasn't as predictable as I expected it to be, though I did manage to catch some subtle hints and make a couple correct guesses about a big plot twist and the ending. I think the part I liked most was how the film made it seem like they found a way to get help on more than one occasion only to have that hope dashed at the last possible moment. It was the kind of thing that only added to the overall hopelessness.

Of course, as all three of us pointed out multiple times during the movie, the two women weren't exactly the brightest bulbs in the bunch either. In addition to not planning ahead bringing adequate equipment (like a longer rope) they missed out on what we thought were fairly obvious ways to get down. 

My wife, for example, suggested tying the rope around the pole and using it to gradually slide down. I, on the other hand, suggested using the drone to safely lower a cell phone to the base of the tower, where they knew it would get a signal and send a message (instead of their plan, which consisted of flinging it off the tower and hoping it didn't shatter from the impact). They also probably should have brought something a little more reliable than a cell in the first place. You would think, with their experience with climbing, they would be a little wiser than they were.

Final Opinion: The movie was stretched out a bit by the women making the problem worse, but it was a good film overall, largely because the camera angles made it feel as though I was trapped on that tower with them.

My Grade: A-