At a glance, Fall looked like one of many forgettable, low-budget thrillers with a silly but curious logline. Fall‘s was: What if two women are trapped 2,000 feet up with no safe way down? Director and co-screenwriter (alongside scribe Jonathan Frank) Scott Mann made a nail-biting thriller that was basically 47 Meters Down for heights, thanks to a bonkers ending that made audiences do a double take. And this proved a recipe for success, as the $3 million movie made $21.8 million in theaters, and went on to be licensed by streaming services, including Netflix.
In that regard, Fall 2: Deadpoint might seem an inevitability. However, Frank and Mann could have written themselves into a corner by killing off the first film’s most enthralling character. Would audiences want to follow a fretful Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) on another climb? And what could even get her to take such a risk after losing her husband and best friend to fatal falls?
Well, Fall 2: Deadpoint picks up not long after the last film’s brutal conclusion, but it shifts focus to Jax (Harriet Slater), the younger sister of the late Shiloh Hunter (Virginia Gardner). This pivot allows Frank and Mann to create a near parallel narrative, in which Jax is the Becky — a young woman who, wracked with grief over the sudden death of a loved one, takes on a dangerous climb to conquer her fears and learn to live again.
Of course, as this is a sequel, the risks must be bigger. So, Jax and her climbing partner Luce (Arsema Thomas) not only go higher than her sister and Becky dared, but they do it on a Thai mountainside prone to rock slides. And along the way, Jax will be bedeviled with flashbacks of her sister, allowing Gardner to bring her shine back to the franchise, even if her character is dead. The thrills will be familiar, but the filmmakers chart a new path by shifting subgenres.
Fall 2: Deadpoint begins as a retread.
Harriet Slater and Arsema Thomas co-star in “Fall 2: Deadpoint.”
Credit: Lionsgate
In the wake of Shiloh’s death, she’s become famous online as #fallgirl. To drive the point home, directors Peter and Michael Spierig offer a montage of familiar content creators, like Try Guy Keith Habersberger and Two Hot Takes podcaster Morgan Absher, giving their thoughts.
This introduction swiftly establishes a world where Jax is inundated online with reminders of her sister’s death. Switching to a flip phone isn’t a standard stage in processing death, but it’s crucial for Jax, who feels all alone without her sister. It’s in this valley of mourning that she meets Luce, an old friend of Shiloh’s who’s interested in buying her vehicle. Together, the two share memories of the fallen sister and uncover her “fuck-it” list, a scrapbook where she plotted her adventures.
A plank walk along Mount Kwan, perched 4,000 feet above sea level, seems to be what Shiloh was eyeing next. Jax and Luce decide to follow her example by living fearlessly and embracing dizzying challenges. So, off they go to Thailand, using a code word to find a sketchy guide named Jon (Tom Brittney) to lead them on the trek, which is illegal because of the weather conditions that could lead to rock slides.
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Caution, be damned! The trio are soon high above the world, and climbing higher. As promised, a rock slide soon hits, not only separating the tourists from their guide but also leaving them stranded on a shattered path that won’t allow for retreat.
This high up, they could suffer from altitude sickness that might cause headaches, hallucinations, and nausea. And just like that, Jax and Luce are in a situation eerily similar to Shiloh and Becky. But don’t think you can predict where Fall 2: Deadpoint will go next.
Fall 2: Deadpoint switches gears for a surprising ending.
Harriet Slater and Arsema Thomas co-star in “Fall 2: Deadpoint.”
Credit: Lionsgate
I won’t spoil the end of this sequel in the review. Instead, I’ll say I’m impressed with how Frank and Mann wove in a subplot that pitches the third act into new terrain for this franchise. Because after the first film, Fall‘s fans (or haters) will be on the watch for any moment that suggests something is amiss.
The screenwriters play into this through repeating elements of the first film, from something as minor as a feasting vulture as an ominous omen to something major, like a confession that threatens to irreparably damage the bond between the two women, who are forced to work together to survive. They essentially pull a magic trick, drawing our eye to the clues that led to a shock last time, distracting us from the subplot that’s building to its climax in the background.
To the credit of the cast, they grit their teeth into the intense physicality demanded of the setup. Slater is convincingly tormented by grief, regret, and terror, whether fretting in flashbacks with Gardner or dangling from a rusty spoke, thousands of feet above the Earth. Brittney is slyly intriguing as a tour guide with an unclear agenda, but Thomas is the closest to shining as brightly as Gardner. Their verve is resilient throughout, making the dark color palette chosen by the Spierig brothers’ less oppressively glum.
The directors do ably create tension in the action sequences though, which are many. A growling discomfort grew within me as I watched Jax and Luce struggle, strain, and scream. Even as I tried to convince myself that I knew how this would turn out, so I wouldn’t get too worked up, I couldn’t avoid it. And in the end, I was wrong about how it’d turn out. So much so that until the final scene, which sets up another sequel, I still wasn’t sure I could trust my eyes.
So, props to the filmmakers who managed to keep this Fall fan guessing all through the credits.
Fall 2: Deadpoint opens in theaters on Sept. 2.
