Film Review – Fall (2022)

For someone with an extreme fear of heights, the anticipation for viewing Fall was stranger than any other I have probably ever faced. While I’ve conquered some elements of my sometimes crippling anxiety when it comes to being high as a kite (literally, easy now), I have still been unable to conquer it completely. Two years ago, I had a panic attack on a plane journey that lasted 45 minutes and have struggled ever since to deal with the indefinable, destructive power of fear. Strangely, though, I cannot look away when someone decides to climb high, whether it’s a YouTuber doing it for their fans, a workman going up a tall tower to replace lights, or even climbing the Shard. My brain is very weird. So, why not a thriller about two people climbing a 2000ft tower in a desert with disastrous effects?

Best friends Becky (Grace Fulton) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner) have a history of wanting to push their human limits and embrace life, whether that’s through extreme sports, rock climbing, or anything in-between. After some personal demons and tragedy rear their heads, the duo decide to conquer something altogether scarier and more extreme: taking on a 2,000 ft abandoned radio tower with only their skills and know-how for company. However, the tower is showing its age and soon the ladies face a fight for survival when they are perilously left trapped at its summit.

Almost immediately, we are up amongst the clouds. There is no rest for the wicked or, like me, the frightened. We are fully immersed in the journey of these two women as they both try to escape their demons by climbing above them. Scott Mann, who brought us 2018’s Dave Bautista/Pierce Brosnan football-set thriller Final Score, has been sharpening his directorial nous for a few years now and with Fall, he has hit his stride. Carefully and precisely stitched together, the film is brilliantly constructed as both a high-octane thriller and a drama about friendship and fear as well as one that has a few surprises along the way, with Fulton and Gardner helping us along the ride with two strong central turns, even if the daytime-soap script undertones threaten to throw them back to Earth.

Those who want their thrills will not be disappointed, but trust us when we say that it comes with a warning. Some people who have already seen the film have suffered vertigo, sickness, and anxiety from watching some of the sequences, so it is a testament to Mann and co that almost everything feels, sounds, and looks real enough, especially on those vast IMAX screens, where the images threaten to engulf you. Yes, its characters aren’t always as alluring as they seem and it suffers some bloat in the second act, but Fall is undeniably a relentless, wholly entertaining thrill ride.

★★★1/2

Thriller | 2022 | Signature Entertainment | Theatrical | Dir: Scott Mann | Virginia Gardner, Grace Fulton, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

About the Author

Scott J. Davis

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Newly appointed Editor of The People's Movies at the start of 2025, Scott has over 13 years of experience as a film writer and critic, writing for such sites as Digital Spy, Sci-Fi Now, Yahoo Movies UK, Flickering Myth and more. He has also been a interviewer and red carpet reporter for HeyUGuys since 2016, where he has attended hundreds of junkets and premieres, interviewing a range of talent from Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Jennifer Lawrence, Samuel L. Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, Martin Scorsese, Jim Carrey, Emily Blunt and many more.

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