Category: Bad

Messages and Meaning

Free Fall 2: Deadpoint is a movie about adrenaline-junkie fools who are sold to us as adventurers and dreamers. The messages remain unclear until the very end. Is the only way to feel good to risk your life on illegal structures? Do two wrongs make a right? Even if there were some kind of idea behind it, the film certainly fails to develop it, and manages to impress us only with its clumsiness.

Plot

The plot is absurd from the very beginning. Jax is grieving the loss of his sister, who died during an absurdly extreme climb on an abandoned structure because she was unable to control her addiction to adrenaline. And to recover from the trauma, Jax decides that the best idea is to do exactly the same thing. He quits his job and travels to the other side of the world with a complete stranger to illegally climb a crumbling bridge 1,200 meters high. What could possibly go wrong?

In its defense, the film tries to set itself apart from the first one. But it chooses the worst possible way to do so. The stolen identity storyline is absurd and lacks any emotional resonance. Then, the idea of escaping early and then facing a second danger is good, but does the second danger really need to arise from moral debates about drugs?

The whole story is incredibly stupid, and the only possible conclusion from it is: people are simple, and then they die.

Characters

The characters are locked in a fierce competition to see which of the three is the most unpleasant.

Jax – An annoying girl who lets others walk all over her and manipulate her however they please. How foolish do you have to be to end up on one of the world’s most dangerous climbs with a dying con artist and a fingerless drug trafficker?

Jon – An absurd man who complicates his own life for no reason. He uses tourists as a cover—so far, so good. But why do they need to carry the pills? John could easily carry them himself. And what kind of legal cover does an illegal mountain hike—where you’re risking the lives of American citizens—actually provide? The route is closed, and no one is monitoring it. John reaches the summit and hands the drugs over to a helicopter. Therefore, he doesn’t need the hikers at all—they only complicate the plan. And since he’s the one who uses the trail, he should have repaired it himself. He could have strung additional ropes or replaced some planks. Instead, John decides: “I’ll keep going that way until everything collapses or they cut off all my fingers, because there’s no way I can have any other career besides smuggling drugs through the deadly stretches of Thailand.

Billy – One of worst people ever. Because she’s obsessed with some random online influencer, Billy decides that when the influencer dies, the best move is to go and introduce herself to the influencer’s sister under a false identity in order to steal her idol’s belongings. Then, “to help,” she decides to lure Jax into an even deadlier mission and pressures her the whole time to go through with it. Halfway through the movie, we learn that Billy has cancer and is dying, which only makes her an even worse person. Up to that point, at least, we might think the risk is shared. But in reality, Billy has lured an innocent girl into a suicide mission because she herself isn’t risking anything. In the end, Billy reveals her true colors once again when, after all the misery she’s caused, she decides to lecture a mentally unstable man about drugs. Without caring about the consequences. Without being grateful that he saved her life. Without giving a thought to the fact that, once again, she’s risking Jax’s life to satisfy her own ego. John tried to be the villain, but Billy completely outshines him and takes the title.

Important details

The mountain is beautiful and interesting, but the movie doesn’t give it the attention it deserves.

The dragon that eats your fears is a wonderful idea that’s completely wasted, since Jax overcomes her fears before that happens.

In the end, Jax gives half the drugs to the mysterious helicopter and… she’s saved? I mean, some random guy shows up instead of John and is carrying only part of the shipment, sees my faces, and knows their secret route, but they just let him walk away? Who knew the mafia was so accommodating.