There are some movies where you can feel the tension building with every second, and then there are movies where you spend most of your time wondering why the characters haven’t simply turned around and gone home. Fall 2: Deadpoint definitely knows how to make you uncomfortable with heights, but unfortunately, it doesn’t quite reach the dizzying heights of its predecessor.
Following the events of the first Fall, this sequel introduces us to Jax, played by Harriet Slater, who is dealing with the death of her sister, Shiloh. She meets Shiloh’s adventurous friend Luce, played by Arsema Thomas, and the two decide to take on an incredibly dangerous climbing adventure in Thailand. Their destination is Mount Kwan, where they attempt to navigate a terrifying plank trail thousands of feet above the ground.
Naturally, things don’t exactly go according to plan.
A rockslide leaves Jax and Luce stranded high above the ground, and from there, the movie becomes another battle against the elements, gravity and, apparently, common sense.
And this is where my biggest problem with Fall 2: Deadpoint comes in.
We’ve already seen this movie.
Well… not literally this movie, but we have seen the basic concept. Two people get themselves into an incredibly dangerous situation at a ridiculous height, they become trapped, and then we watch them desperately try to survive. The original Fall took a very simple concept and managed to squeeze an impressive amount of tension out of it. The sequel changes the location, changes the characters and adds some twists, but it still feels like we’re watching the same movie trying to climb a different mountain.
The biggest problem is that the danger doesn’t always feel as fresh or as frightening as it should. There are certainly some moments where the heights will make your stomach drop, and the cinematography does a good job of reminding you just how high these characters are. Looking down from those planks is enough to make anyone’s palms sweaty.
But once you’ve established that falling equals death, there are only so many times you can show someone almost falling before the effect starts to wear off.
And unfortunately, that’s where the movie starts to lose its grip.
Harriet Slater does a decent job as Jax, particularly when the story focuses on her grief and the emotional connection to her sister. Arsema Thomas also brings some energy to Luce, and the two leads do what they can with the material they’re given.
The problem is that the characters sometimes make decisions that had me sitting there thinking, “Why would you do that?!”
When you’re watching a survival thriller, you want to be shouting at the screen because you’re scared for the characters. Here, I was occasionally shouting because I couldn’t understand their decision-making.
The movie also tries to compensate for its fairly predictable survival formula by throwing in some twists. Unfortunately, some of these twists feel more ridiculous than shocking. Instead of making me gasp, they occasionally made me raise an eyebrow.
And then there is the ending.
Without getting into spoilers, let’s just say the movie clearly wants to leave the door open for another instalment. Considering how this sequel already struggles to escape the shadow of the first movie, I’m not sure another climb is necessarily what this franchise needs.
The original Fall worked because of its simplicity. Two people. One tower. Nowhere to go. A terrifying situation.
Fall 2: Deadpoint tries to build on that formula, but in doing so, it makes the story more complicated without necessarily making it more interesting. Some of the twists feel unnecessary, while the emotional story doesn’t receive quite enough attention.
That doesn’t mean the movie is completely without merit.
There are still some genuinely impressive visuals, and if you suffer from a fear of heights, there are moments where you will definitely feel uncomfortable. The setting gives the filmmakers plenty of opportunities to create some spectacular-looking sequences, and there are times when the movie succeeds in making you feel just how isolated these characters are.
Unfortunately, for me, those moments weren’t enough to carry the entire film.
Fall 2: Deadpoint isn’t a complete disaster, but it feels like a sequel that was made because the first movie was successful rather than because there was a truly compelling story left to tell. It takes the basic formula and stretches it further, but bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better.
I wanted more tension, more believable character decisions and a stronger emotional connection. Instead, I got plenty of climbing, plenty of screaming and plenty of moments where I was wondering how these people managed to get themselves into this situation in the first place.
⭐ My Rating: 2/5
Fall 2: Deadpoint had me looking down, but unfortunately, it wasn’t because I was impressed by the view. The movie has some decent thrills and uncomfortable height sequences, but it spends too much time trying to recreate the magic of the original instead of finding its own footing.
In the end, this sequel falls short of the original and leaves the franchise dangling somewhere between suspense and silliness.
Hopefully, if there’s another Fall movie, the filmmakers can finally give the audience something to climb on board with.
