'Fall' review: Doesn’t fall far from the cliches of other survival movies

'Fall' is yet another one of those survival films about people trapped in a life-threatening situation, desperately fighting for survival.

Fall

Director: Scott Mann

Cast: Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Mason Gooding and Darell Dennis

Fall is yet another one of those survival films about people trapped in a life-threatening situation, desperately fighting for survival. Even before you sit down for this one, you wold have already guessed how the whole movie would unfold. Sadly, Fall , er, falls short and is trapped by the cliche and generic formula overused in most recent survival movies with few tweaks and new takes.

A tragic rock-climbing excursion takes the life of Becky's husband, Dan (Mason Gooding) plunging to his death. Fast forward a year, Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) is still traumatised and mourns Dan's death by drowning herself in alcohol. One day, her best friend and a famous Youtuber, Hunter (Virginia Gardner) invites her to join on an audacious climb of a 2,000 foot-high (609m) remote, abandoned radio tower in an effort to help Becky overcome the grief and confront her fears.

Whatever you do, just don't look down. Oh wait there's nowhere else for you to look.

However, the climb goes horribly wrong, and the girls find themselves stranded at the top with no way down and no one to communicate with. Becky’s and Hunter’s skills are put up to the test as both desperately find a way to survive with minimal supplies in hand.

As this is another survival film created by the same producers of the 47 Meters Down, lots of similarities can be found in Fall, from way the story builds up, the number of times the leads desperately come up with something just for it to end in vain, to the predictable, eye-roll-inducing twists.

Yes, I know we're stuck up here. No, i don't want to sing '99 Green Bottles'.

At first, it is really fun and intriguing to see what the two women come up with using what few items they have, and do the unimaginable in order to survive. However, halfway through the movie, the never-ending vicious cycle of their efforts coming to naught soon takes a toll, making the movie seem longer than its one hour 47 minute runtime.

Mann's experience with this genre is clear, and he knows just how to build the tension in order to effectively keep the audience at the edge of their seats.

If you’re a fan of survival movies, then this would be straight-up disappointing and predictable. However, if you haven't seen many movies of this genre, then this might be a great watch, thanks to some effective twists. Just a heads up, so if you have acrophobia or fear of heights, maybe you should skip this one.

Fall opens in cinemas nationwide on Aug 25, with sneak previews today and tomorrow (Aug 21).