Fall 2: Deadpoint

Channel Hopping: First Impressions at 10,000 Feet

You start at Fall 2: Deadpoint on Pikashow with a close up of two climbers on a rock face 2000 feet up. Immediately, the Spierig Bros. set the tone of the movie with some quick, crazy thrills. They focus on some of the women who are chained to this movie; talents like Harriet Slater and Arsema Thomas, creating the high drama. This movie plays on one of the strongest emotions of humans, fear, and sells you on that ticket right away. This is probably all you need to draw a viewer in. The cinematography really sells this tension and shows how exposed these women really are. All of this sells this movie in the first 10 minutes, and shows you why they are feeling exactly what they are feeling. The editing itself quickly engages you without boring you with ridiculous scene transitions. The editing is well thought out to keep your hands sweaty throughout this film that keeps its promises of attention gripping. This is clearly a movie that is going to give you a roller coaster ride, and it gets thatJesus across to someone quickly, with a short passage with little dialogue that gets the story moving as the main climber needs to get to the top before anything bad happens.

Settling In: Vertigo, Twists, and Flat Spots

Once the commitment to watch a movie has been made, Fall 2: Deadpoint works to sustain its high-wire act for the next 1 hour and 38 minutes. The movie's aesthetics are very impressive and complemented by a number of vertigo-inducing and stomach-churning shots of climbing sequences. Slater and Thomas’ performances bring some given level of desperation and fear that helps anchor the tension of everything that is happening. Many reviewers have cited this movie as taking the “visually spectacular” nature of the first film and trying to take it to “wilder stakes.” Think more “character-driven, soap-opera-like story.” So the “physical battle against gravity” is much more of a narrative device this time, which can add a nice pacing and tension building dimension, but some of these additions can feel too “pulpy.” (Note: this is a good thing.) Stuff that is going to keep you from watching down too hard. As mentioned before, this is the first of many cracks. While some of the practical effects à la eye-popping feats are impressive, there are still a few moments of some not so impressive CGI and are, unfortunately,jarring because this movie thrives on the perception of real danger. The effects add so much (or should I say subtract) that the script is saying is there. Dialogue can at times feel like it was written just to service the story and the twists and turns. Emotional stakes feel more like swimming laps than the life or death nature the movie is trying to create. This is a pretty good thrill ride, but it’s not perfect.

The audience score was a 6.8 and the CinemaScore reports a "B-". This combination of results suggests that while the audience appreciates Dark Phoenix as an overall competent Thriller, it isn't the best movie of all time and doesn't deserve universal praise.

Final Flip: Does It Stick the Landing?

Having survived the first act of the movie and the shock of the mid-air incidents, does Fall 2: Deadpoint measure up against the live TV skip scroll and the rivalry of cricket? Definitely, for edge-of-your-seat adrenaline rush movies. The production delivers on high stakes sweaty palms and action. This movie is a good choice for a Friday night thriller, particularly for those who appreciate edge of your seat survival movies. If you're expecting well rounded characters, a polished movie with SFX, and a flawless plot that is GPU def using every core to deliver non stop entertainment, you might find yourself checking your remote a little more than you should be. For its concept of building height-induced terror, this movie does so successfully, but doesn't build much else in the plot. Overall Deadpoint is a good survival thriller that doesn't go on and on in order to meet the runtime. It doesn't go for a home run and succeed, but it grazes the fence for sure. For the subst / high vertigo situations, watch it to the end. For something with more substance, grab that remote and flip.