Fall 2 review: Weak characters let down nail-biting action
While I enjoyed the first Fall – it was a pleasant surprise for a silly high-concept film – I didn’t expect there to be a sequel. Just because something is successful, it doesn’t mean there needs to be another. But I felt mildly confident about Fall 2 because it was directed by the Spierig Brothers, known for Jigsaw and Predestination.
The following synopsis contains spoilers for the first Fall (which you should watch beforehand!) After Shiloh Hunter died in the first film, her sister Jax (Harriet Slater) teams up with Shiloh’s friend Luce (Arsema Thomas) to complete one of the daredevil missions she had planned in her scrapbook. They decide to Walk the Plank at Mount Kwan in Thailand, specifically the Death Dragon Trail, which has been closed to the public for years because it is unsafe. The climb is illegal, they’re not experienced climbers, and it’s the wet season; what could possibly go wrong?
With the help of local guide John (Tom Brittney), Jax and Luce climb 1,000 feet up the mountain before beginning the plank walk – a very narrow strip of planks around a sheer cliff face. It’s not in great shape – the planks are wobbly, screws are loose, and the safety chains are rusty as hell. During their climb, a rockfall destroys two sections of the walk on either side, leaving them stranded at a precarious corner, the Devil’s Elbow.
The motivations for the characters doing the climb in the first place are basic and unconvincing. Jax is not an adrenaline junkie like her sister, and I refuse to believe she’d actually go through with this dangerous walk. But that would make a short film! The writing and character development are weak, but there are some twists along the way to liven things up, and I still found myself caring for these two during their attempts to survive.
This is where the movie excels – building the tension and the stakes. We get a lot of close-up foreshadowing shots of the trail’s wear and tear, signalling that something could break at any minute, and there are plenty of dizzying “don’t look down” shots to remind us how far up they are. The Spierigs really ramp up the sense of threat and danger, and I viscerally responded every time the girls tried something risky to survive. The action moments are nail-biting stuff!
Scott Mann and Jonathan Frank (who wrote the original film) wisely try to do something different within the confines of a similar premise and expand the story into a wild action-thriller in the final act. The film doesn’t remotely reach the heights of the original – it even looks quite cheap at times – but there are plenty of thrills in here to keep audiences entertained for 97 minutes.
In cinemas from Wednesday 9th September