By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Fall (USA, 2022): The thing about bottle movies (films that revolve entirely about a singular event in a single location) is that they live and die on the strength of their premise. Fall has a very good one —two climbers trapped at the top of an antenna— but in an effort to stretch it to feature length, it introduces low-level drama, fake outs, and stilted dialogue, all of which subtracts more than add to the total. (Sample line: “Live is short, so do whatever makes you feel alive. Oscar Wilde, it’s not.)

Following a mountain climbing tragedy, Becky (Grace Caroline Currey, Shazam!) finds herself in a deep, lengthy funk. To infuse some joie de vivre in her, her best friend Hunter (Virginia Gardner, Runaways) invites her to climb a 2,000 ft. abandoned communication tower (suspect judgement there.) The structure in question—decommissioned, rusty, unkempt—is certain to give the leads a run for their money. They make it to the top, but getting back down is a whole new deal.

Fall is at its best when dealing with the challenges of being stuck In the middle of nowhere and no help in sight. Everything that could possibly go wrong does, and the fact the protagonists are mildly competent makes every complication more plausible. The film also succeeds at recreating vertigo (susceptible audiences beware).

It’s the wrapping that doesn’t do Fall any favors. There’s romantic triangle drama that undermines the empowerment message. The characters are paper thin and have a single defining trait: Becky is depressed and Hunter is an influencer (automatically hard to root for). Pro tip: Fleshing up your protagonists is bound to elevate a movie’s stakes. 2.5/5 stars.

Fall is now playing in theatres.