Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Scott Mann
Starring: Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Mason Gooding
I believe it was Godard who said that all you need to make a good movie
are two girls and a gigantic TV tower. Heeding those words is director
Scott Mann, whose Fall gives us just that – two
girls stuck on top of a 2,000 foot tall TV tower in the middle of
nowhere. It's a brutally effective piece of primal filmmaking that
focuses on a human fear that has been exploited by clever filmmakers
ever since Harold Lloyd dangled off a clock tower.
In a prologue that recalls the Stallone thriller
Cliffhanger, Becky (Grace Caroline Currey), her husband (Mason Gooding) and
their friend Hunter (Virginia Gardner) are mountain climbing when
Becky's hubby falls to his death. A year later and Becky is still
wallowing in grief, getting drunk every night and ignoring her father's
(Jeffrey Dean Morgan) attempts to offer help. When Hunter turns
up on her doorstep with a proposal to climb a remote TV mast twice the
height of the Eiffel Tower, Becky is initially hesitant but eventually
agrees, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to scatter her late hubby's
ashes.
Mann does a fantastic job of introducing the structure that will
ultimately serve as the movie's inanimate antagonist. We see it first at
night, with only its flashing red bulb pulsing miles high in the dark
sky. The following morning the girls arrive and we see just how dwarfed
they are by this imposing tower. As they make their way up, Mann
hardwires potential tragedies with close-ups of screws being rattled
loose, showing us just how rickety the tower's rusty ladder is.
Making it to the top, the girls celebrate their achievement, only for
the unthinkable to happen – the brittle ladder breaks away, leaving them
stranded on a small ledge at the structure's summit. Nobody knows where
they are, they can't get cellphone reception and their bag which
contains water has become snagged on a satellite dish just out of their
reach below. As the girls try to figure out a way out of their
predicament they have to contend with circling vultures, fatigue and a
revelation that threatens the foundation of their friendship.
Movies that purport to play out in a confined setting too often cop out
by peppering the running time with flashbacks. Kudos to Mann for
refusing to go down this lazy route. His film is the real deal and does
exactly what it says on its rickety, rusty tin, leaving us in the
company of its heroines on top of a bloody great big tower for
practically the entire movie. Along with co-writer
Jonathan Frank, Mann keeps finding novel ways to amp up the
tension, forcing his protagonists to contend with new challenges at
every plot turn. Becky and Hunter are a pair of smart cookies, and every
time we think they've figured out an ingenious way to get off the damn
tower it's scuppered by some unforeseen force.
Fall's effectiveness relies heavily on convincing the audience that we
really are watching two girls hanging off a piece of metal miles in the
sky. Had the visual effects been below par the whole film would collapse
like the knackered ladder that sets off its drama. The effects here are
remarkably convincing, far superior to what we've seen employed in
similar scenarios in movies with considerably larger budgets. The
greenscreen backdrop (which in this case really is a "drop") is
immaculately rendered to cause vertigo for the audience throughout. A
wind machine works overtime to add an extra element of danger, as does
the sound design, elevating every clatter and ricket to fray our nerves.
You really will believe a girl can fall.
Mann's movie is the very definition of a cinematic spectacle and should
be seen on the biggest (and tallest) screen you can find. If you're like
me and have a fear of heights, your toes will be curled and your nails
dug into your palms throughout. Had I seen this on an IMAX screen I
suspect I may have had to exit the cinema on a stretcher. Several movies
have given us vertiginous set-pieces, but none have stretched them out
to feature length as effectively as Fall.
