Fall came out during the peak of COVID. It was in whatever cinemas were open, but most people watched it on iTunes or streaming. It was a good film, from what I remember.

A one-off with an interesting premise and genuinely fun and shocking twist, a great one-shot. Two thrill-seekers climb to the top of a radio tower, get stuck, and have to try to get down or get help. Simple stuff.

Six years later, Fall 2: Deadpoint doesn’t seem to remember what made the first film so great and doesn’t make a great case for itself existing at all. The sister of one of the girls from the first is grieving and befriends one of their old college mates. She convinces her to go on a trip to Thailand to do one of the extreme trails that her sister never got around to before falling off a tower.

They’ve also decided to add drug trafficking and Marvel-style setups and cameos into the mix with the intent to fully franchise these films. Like most franchise sequels, it’s a bit too over-stuffed with clunky exposition and boring explanations for characters. It misses the simplicity of the first.

The simplicity isn’t the only thing missing from the sequel. When we get up to the Thai mountain with the scary planks on the cliff face, there is a sense of scale and vertigo that doesn’t come across. No tension builds, and at times it is even more boring than the time on the ground.

Fall 2 fails as a sequel because it doesn’t realise what made Fall a fun COVID gem. But hey, I can’t wait for all our favourite Fall characters to reunite in Fall 3: Icebreaker in 3 years’ time.