By Jonah Naplan

August 13, 2022

I think the main goal of “Fall” is making its viewers terrified of heights if they weren’t already. And it kinda succeeds. Although, not in the way you might think. It more so made me uninterested in embarking on the same adventure our two leads did—uninterested may be an understatement—and made me realize how scared of heights I would have become had I been in their position. But the movie doesn’t necessarily look at its protagonists in an admirable way. They made a stupid decision, and are now struggling to survive. But money exists, and heights isn’t my worst fear anyway, so here we are with “47 Meters Up.”

Becky and Hunter are two best friends who decide to climb a 2,000-foot abandoned radio tower in the middle of nowhere. On a surface level, it seems that they’re only doing it for fun and internet views, but with an expositional beginning, we learn it’s mostly in honor of Becky’s late husband, Dan, who died after falling off a mountain while climbing. We see this scene in the opening of the film, and the death of Dan becomes Becky’s driving motivator to agree to Hunter’s unfathomable proposal. Hunter suggests that Becky brings Dan’s ashes up with them, to toss them from the tippy top of this radio tower. It’s all sentimental until it isn’t anymore, and director Scott Mann places our characters in the most insane scenarios imaginable once they get stuck 2,000 feet above ground, with no water, phone signal, and lots and lots of vultures. The scariest part is, everything that happens to our leads could theoretically happen in real life, given that someone would be crazy enough to climb a 2,000-foot radio tower in the first place.

My mom walked out about a half hour into “Fall”’s considerably overlong 107-minute runtime. And many other people attending my screening did too. But that’s not because it’s a bad movie. It’s perfectly reasonable for a critic to have the ability to sit through any number of scary horror movies, but the fear that’s enacted in “Fall” is something very different. It’s not jumpscare based. There’s no creepy monsters/demons. It’s scary because of the universal fear of heights that many humans share. If someone calls “Fall”’s main scare factor their biggest fear, no doubt they’ll be walking out of the theater shook by what they just watched. If you have a fear of heights, of course you won’t like “Fall.” But the movie knows that, and takes so many opportunities to prove that point, that we sometimes get angry because of how much the showy cinematography, well, shows off. The movie knows exactly what it’s doing, and the winks at the camera are uncanny. The film has so many downward facing shots from the top of the radio tower, and so many shots of loose bolts from the ladders our characters are climbing, that we begin to think this movie is just one big gimmick.

But it’s not that. And very fortunately so. It’s saved by two strong female performances, who are fascinating to watch especially in the most important moments. And that’s crucial in this kind of thriller. Or rather, maybe it’s actually a horror movie depending on where you stand on heights.

We often feel the vertigo our characters are experiencing right as it’s happening. It’s a very effective movie at times, and the performances definitely help that, however, the characters the actors have been given to play are just more examples of two-dimensional caricatures in your modern blockbuster, given little to do than occasionally deliver exposition and scream for help every so often.

At the beginning of the movie, we do learn a little bit about Becky’s character, her drinking and drug habits, and the poor relationship she holds with her father (a very randomly cast Jeffrey Dean Morgan). The movie sometimes tries to intertwine this idea into the radio tower scenes, and it’s unnecessary. We only come to a movie like this because of the draw the poster provides. We want to see another “trapped” thriller. Distractions become a lot more evident.

It feels especially awkward when another new plotline is revealed—while our leads are still on top of the radio tower, mind you—that breaks down the past that each of the characters behold. Maybe Becky’s relationship with Dan wasn’t all she thought it was cracked up to be. Either way, the random thrown-in plotline feels heavy and rushed. Maybe the filmmakers even spent a little too much time on it. The important thing is making sure that the movie mainly focuses on the danger of the film’s plot and the fear that comes along with it. Luckily for us, the majority of the movie takes place on the radio tower and each “dangerous” scene is pretty darn enthralling.

If there’s one thing we can all collectively learn from “Fall,” it’s that maybe there are some alternative ways we can grieve a husband’s death.