It’s a curious choice for a sequel.  The original movie didn’t necessitate it (there were no open endings), and the box-office haul was just $22m USD globally.  Still, for whatever reasons, the producers have invested in a second instalment and enlisted a new directing team.  Australian brothers Peter and Michael Spierig (Daybreakers, Predestination) helm the project, and it marks their first feature film in over 8 years.

Entitled Fall 2: Deadpoint, the script is one of the worst you’ll see all year.  The 2022 release was centred on two risk-taking climbers who became trapped on the tiny platform atop a 600-metre television tower after the rusty ladder collapsed.  One survived.  The other didn’t.  The sequel begins by introducing us to Shiloh (Slater), the sister of the deceased who decides to traverse a perilously dangerous cliff face in Thailand.  You’d think Shiloh would have more common sense given her sister’s fate, but she is egged on by a new friend, Luce (Thomas), who accompanies her.

I’ll cut to the chase and describe them as idiots.  The trail has been closed to the public for decades given safety concerns, and their climbing experience is non-existent.  Lo and behold, they’re roughly half-way on their journey when rocks fall from above, the path is cut-off, and they become stranded on a series of old wooden planks roughly 1km above the ground.  There’s no mobile phone reception, and so they’re going to need to put on their thinking caps if they wish to survive.

The characters are as poorly conceived as the storyline.  They seldom stay true to themselves!  There are moments when they show no fear – not because they’re courageous but rather, they’re blissfully ignorant of the risks around them.  Conversely, there are sequences when reality sets in and they can barely move given how scared they are.  Their actions are equally puzzling.  A plot point involving a laser pointer and an old video camera (with apparently the capability to zoom-in over 3,000 feet) is laughably bad.  Don’t even start me on the finale!

The Spierig brothers want us to overlook the shabby script through an array of semi-repetitive imagery which tap into our natural fear of heights.  Examples include a shot of someone looking down over a tiny ledge, and a worn-out screw which is about to come loose of its bolt.  It’s one of the few things the film gets right, and I’ll admit to feeling slightly nauseous, but it’s not nearly enough to justify the ticket price.

Audiences were laughing openly at the preview screening I attended.  Did I miss the point and perhaps this whole thing was intended to be a dumb spoof?  I’ll leave it for others to decide.