Parents' Guide to Fall

Two women climb to new heights, only to find they can't escape the patriarchy in writer-director Scott Mann's vertigo-inducing actioner. Fall is competently made, with cinematography that will have viewers on the edge of their seats. It's one part suspense, one part horror. This is about surviving the elements, like a different kind of Cast Away -- one borne out of the main characters' recklessly overconfident decisions. And, just like in a horror movie, viewers will want to yell at the screen: "Don't do it!"

From a parenting standpoint, there's a great benefit to that approach: Perhaps, when faced with the option of participating in dangerous situations, teens who've seen Fall will "know better" because they've walked in the characters' shoes. There's no doubt that Mann is a dad, especially when the storyline takes a turn that reinforces the idea that "Father knows best." But there's also no doubt that Mann and his co-writer Jonathan Frank are men who grew up seeing women portrayed on screen in a different way than we expect today -- and that's where Fall plummets. Warrant's "Cherry Pie" blasts throughout, and it's hard to imagine that two 28-year-old women in 2022 would even know this sexist 1990 anthem, much less make it their ring tone. They're wardrobed so that their breasts spill out of their shirts, with Mann so aware that it's objectification nonsense that he writes a justification into the script. And, somehow in this story that's about a woman finding her inner strength when she's already incredibly physically strong, the script finds a way to make it about men (sigh). Just like Becky and Hunter's plans, this film starts with promise, only to drop with a thud.