Following the events at the B67 TV Tower, Jax (Harriet Slater) and Luce (Arsema Thomas) climb to the top of Thailand’s Mount Kwan — with disastrous results.
2022’s Fall was a ruthlessly efficient genre exercise, stripping the disaster-survival thriller down to its most essential parts. The premise was simple: two climbers (Grace Caroline Currey’s Becky and Virginia Gardner’s Shiloh), one grieving the loss of her husband, the other a devil-may-care YouTuber, accidentally get trapped on the top of America’s tallest TV tower, and must use their wits and ingenuity to escape.
This minimalist but highly effective B-movie was a sleeper hit in the Covid era, so it has spawned a second go-around. Echoing the first film’s surprise success, the original climbers are now social-media stars, with thousands of “Fall-owers”, as one podcaster puts it — but our heroes this time are Jax (Harriet Slater), the younger sister of Shiloh, and Shiloh’s friend Luce (Arsema Thomas). They find Shiloh’s journal with an ambitious climbing bucket-list, and Luce convinces Jax to traverse the treacherous plank walk of Thailand’s Mount Kawn — which has, at its summit, the ‘Death Dragon’, a statue said to eat your fears.
It is at its best when giving you the absolute willies.
Like the first film, this is a very basic story about facing your phobias, about characters dealing with the grief of a climbing tragedy by brazenly inviting a new one. Like the first film, the only true antagonists here are rusty screws rattling out of place, the hundreds of metres below their feet, and the unstoppable power of gravity. And just like the first film, it is at its best when giving you the absolute willies.
There are so many moments where these characters could, and should, just say: “Nope!” Ladders wobble. Signs warn of extreme danger. Risk assessments are nonexistent. Soon they get stuck on something called the Devil’s Elbow. Then it starts pissing it down — couldn’t they have checked the forecast? — and our plucky heroes are contending with thunderstorms, earthquakes, landslides, even drug cartels. It’s not just heights that will trouble you now.
One particular sequence, in which the pair swing on monkey bars — with no rope! — at 3,000 feet will make you squirm. Yet while it is brutally effective in the sweaty-palm department, it somewhat falters elsewhere. Very basic dialogue (“We are going to make it out of here!”), simplistic character development (getting stranded on a mountain will help conquer your fears!) and cheesy backstories (one core childhood memory is conveniently recorded on a camcorder) makes the experience feel scrappier and more generic than its sharply drawn predecessor.
Still, in the disaster-thrills department, it does the job. And in its final moments, it makes an audacious gamble for franchise expansion (the FCU?) with a very confident sequel tease. Will we soon see our heroes team up to battle gravity itself?
Not quite as direct a hit of adrenaline as the first film, but still a compelling argument against ever climbing any higher than sea level. Expect absolutely dripping palms.
