FALL; a Movie Review — how much reality are we expected to ignore?
Let me start by saying this is an entertaining movie. And it was very successful given its budget of 3 million. And kudos to the actresses. And worth watching just for the twists and turns in the action.
It’s about two women who climb a 2,000 foot radio tower and once they get to the top the last section of ladder they used falls away trapping them.
But you must be willing to suspend a LOT of disbelief at a number of basic flaws in the action. And have empathy with people who do stupid things for the rush and publicity.
Spoilers ahead.
It’s billed as a “survival” movie yet the two women do so many fundamental things wrong, starting with the basic “tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to be back”. That is an ironclad rule of basic survival. Basic camping. Basic hiking. Guess they never saw the movie about the guy who got trapped with the boulder crushing his arm and having to amputate it? Hell, they didn’t carry a bone saw. Or even a Leatherman.
Plus, she did post to her thousands of followers from the base of the tower with her plan to climb it. Then simply disappeared for a couple of days. No one wondered?
Actually, the opening scene where the boyfriend falls to his death violated a rule of climbing — always have two pieces of protection in place. The first thing I did when I arrived at 10th Special Forces Group was go through International Mountain Climbing School where I learned enough never to want to climb a mountain for “fun” again. Pay and mission, yes. Sort of the way I feel about parachuting despite triple digit jumps and being a jump master.
But, okay, they were kind of stupid anyway, so yeah, his one piece of protection failed. I knew it was inevitable that it would be revealed he’d slept with both of them. He was a guy. He was dead. Sure. Let’s throw that in. As if they didn’t have enough problems. “You slept with my boyfriend? Really, bitch?”
I had to blink when they got to the top of the 2,000 foot tower and said they had no cell phone signal even though they’d had one on the ground at the base of the tower. “We’re too high for a signal”. What???? I mean they even put cell phone transmitters ON TOP OF TOWERS! WTF??
I know that was necessary for the plot, but come on. You can drive an entire plot through that plot hole.
And let’s not talk battery life on the phones. They were concerned about the drone’s battery life, but those phones lasted forever and they wasted a lot of power on dumb things like pictures of better days. What about SOS using the flashlight at night?
Also, most drones you can program where it goes. At least my cheap one does. But, then again, they didn’t have a signal, so.
The recharging of the drone using the light at the top? First, the scene in the diner was dumb. Really, a waitress isn’t going to let you plug in to charge your phone? Second, if the lamp was plugged in, why not use THAT plug? I don’t even know if you can actually charge a cell phone using a light socket. And I’m not going to try. Unless a waitress tells me I can’t use the plug. In which case, I am not tipping.
But I do know the warning light at the top of a 2,000 foot tower IS NOT running off 110 volt. There’s some serious juice up there. I mean, come on? What might have been smart, if they were going to climb to that light, is disable it the first night. Don’t you think some people might notice that lack? Then use the flashlights on their cell phones?
Then the one actress hanging up there by her arms to charge the drone to four bars, really? Every try to hang like that? I liked the touch using the ring. He’s dead anyway. So.
There were little things like when the ladder went and the one woman fell, the other held on to the pole with one hand and managed to stop her fall using the rope. Sorry. Nope. No one’s grip is that strong. I’m sure people who are climbers were screaming at the screen many times during this movie, much like ex-military at action movies. In a way, this was the John Wick of mountain climbing.
Here’s the real kicker. They had a decent length of rope with them after the ladder fell. There are versions of a Prusick knot, that you can use to tighten down on a rod (or pole) and alternately tighten and loosen. It’s one of the basic knots of mountaineering. They had more than enough rope for each of them use such a knot (actually two for each) to climb down.
Honestly, I’d have a hard time tying a Prusick from memory. Which is why I have a downloaded knot tying app on my cell phone. Along with a knot tying book. Downloaded. So I don’t need the signal at 2,000 feet to access. PS: I have a list of free and cheap Apps and books I highly recommend on my web site. www.bobmayer.com/freebies
In summation, back to the beginning. Entertaining. Worth watching. Don’t get mad at me. I’m just trying to keep people ground in the reality of survival. And tower climbing.
