FALL (2022)

FALL (2022)

Tagline: Fear reaches new heights.

(Thriller, Drama, Two Idiots) [PG-13]

In this one, a young woman named Becky has spent nearly a year in a spiral of depression after the loss of her husband. Her friend Hunter, who was present when Becky’s husband died, decides to try and get Becky out of her shell.  The plan is to climb a 2,000-foot radio tower and post it on Instagram. 

First off, this movie is getting some flack because LIONSGATE wanted a PG-13 rating and cut out a lot of the profanity in the film using an AI mouth manipulation bit of software. That technology is scary as hell because it basically means you can make anyone say anything you want and manipulate their mouth movements to achieve that. So I can definitely see where this technology and move on LIONSGATE’s part is controversial. Perhaps my bigger problem though is that we have a real “writing incompetence” problem in Hollywood in general. If you can’t pump some actual vocabulary into that script that is going to get the point across without dropping f-bombs on your audience, you are failing as a writer. LIONSGATE does not need to fix this thing if it was well written from the start. 

Acting wise I have seen some people ripping on Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner but they are not any part of the problem with this movie. I do feel like the director probably has an obsession with breasts though because almost every change they go, we are seeing down what little shirts Becky and Hunter are wearing. There is a reason given that Hunter is showing so much, but in this type of film, it just seemed very out of place. Grace Caroline Currey who plays Becky is most famous for her role in SHAZAM! as Mary. She shows a great deal of range in this one, so I do not understand where any complaints are coming from regarding her. I will say that Virginia Gardner playing Hunter was a bit more challenged. She’s playing a very dislikable character. Essentially this is the idiot friend that you kinda want to like, but she’s shady as hell and makes stupid decisions. Gardner is a LOT better in the TV show “Runaways”. We also get a small dose of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Becky’s father James. This was a relief because I can’t stand this dude as an actor in almost anything aside from RAMPAGE. At least in this, he’s playing a concerned father, but the role could have been pulled off by any one of thousands of actors out there. 

If you are in the middle of a breakup or have lost someone recently, how you perceive this movie might differ greatly. I don’t want to say this is a “thrill ride”. It’s more like a slow-moving anxiety-laden nightmare scape that still manages to convey the human spirit waking up and deciding to fight. However, there are two sub-stories in this that add layers of tension that didn’t necessarily need to be there. Both storylines are big-time depressing downers. In that sense, this movie is a bit of both. It’s a downer and a triumph film, but it’s a long wait for those little rays of hope. 

For animal lovers, this movie does contain an animal cruelty scene, but to be honest, it was totally necessary, even as grossly carried out as it was. I don’t want to say there is a lot of gore in this, but there is enough to warrant maybe not taking your very young daughters to see it like the mom sitting next to me at the theater did. 

Overall this isn’t going to be for everyone and it’s typically not a movie I would go see even as someone that does as many reviews as I do. I think the current lack of movies is kind of what drove me to check this out and honestly, the premise sounded pretty interesting. Cinematically this is quite an achievement and it is shot really well. You feel like you are up there on this giant radio tower. I do wish we had gotten better characters but Becky at least is worth rooting for and if you can get around to embracing her, this movie is a lot better watch, than if you don’t. You will also want to make sure you can handle watching people deal with dizzying heights if you want to check this out.

FALL gets a 4 out of 7, but it’s probably not going to crack my TOP 20 movies for 2022. If you are already a very anxious person, definitely just skip this thing.
 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF TEA SHOP PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless.