Free Fall

Free Fall is a low budget direct to home video film that never really gets anything done. The story is there, but you can basically tell where it is going early on. While this is usually not a bad thing for these types of films, nothing exciting ever happens to keep our attention. The following is my review of Free Fall.

The film was written by Dwayne Alexander Smith. Smith is a relative unknown, which doesn't really hurt a film like this since the plots are usually paper thin to being with. The story follows Jane Porter(Sarah Butler) as she goes into work one day to find that her co-worker killed himself by jumping off the roof of the building. As Jane is cleaning out his work space, she finds a flash drive that has evidence that her company is taking part in criminal activity. When Jane tells one of her bosses what she found, the muscle comes in to knock off another employee to keep this quiet. Jane eventually gets caught in the elevator and the rest of the plot unfolds, or lack thereof. As I said above, the plot is paper thin, and sadly there is little to keep you interest for eighty five minutes. While I expected a bland script for one of these direct to home video films, this one just didn't keep my attention all that well.

The film was directed by Malek Akkad, who is well known for being the big name Producer of the Halloween series, having taken over that spot from his late father. Akkad is not known for directing film, as this is his first major outing as a director. If you can even call this a major outing. There is not much action until very late in the film, and even then the action is very light. The film overall though it shot amazingly, and you never really get the sense that this is a direct to home video film, that is until towards the end of the film there is a cheesy CG shot that looks awful.

The acting is fairly good, which surprised me. The film is lead by star Sarah Butler(I Spit on Your Grave) and secondary actors like Ian Gomez, D.B. Sweeney, and acting legend Malcolm McDowell. With names like this, you cannot go wrong in terms of acting. I've never payed attention to the career of Sarah Butler before this film, but she doesn't do a bad job in this film. D.B. Sweeney is one of my favorite actors, and he plays a fantastic bad guy, even though his character is not all that well written. Malcolm McDowell can play any character in any film and totally pull it off without any problems, and that is the case once again in this film.

Malek Akkad has a fairly good outing at his first attempt at directing a fairly bigger film. Sadly, the script wasn't anything special to keep our interest.

Timothy Andrew Edwards is the composer of this film, and most of his experience has been composing television material. While this is not exactly an award winning score in any way, I must say I did enjoy what Edwards did with this film. The score is fairly cheesy, but that works in a film like this. Overall, Edwards doesn't offer up anything amazing, but his effort is good enough for a film like this.

In closing, this film is a below average direct to home video film. The story itself is hurt by the uninteresting story later in the film, and also lack of action. The acting is really one of the few bright spots of this film, so if you are a big fan of smaller films like this, mixed with some good acting, this is a film you probably will want to check out. Most however will likely just want to skip this film.

4/10

The story is nothing new and some of the acting was a bit wooden. However, I thought Sarah Butler (I spit on your Grave) saved the film as the lead character trapped in the lift. Her feisty performance as Jane Porter gave the movie something extra. There are some thrilling moments and the pace is just about fast enough to keep the audience's attention.

I admit, I only picked this up for Sarah Butler, seen her in a few horrors and met her in the flesh. And she's doing here what she does best. Being the victim. It's easy to spot that this is a low budget flick because there are almost no effects and the script is rather simple.

You can see it all coming and to be honest there are no surprises to catch in this predictable thriller. It's also sad to see ow deep Malcolm McDowell has fallen. He's the blockbuster in this flick but he's only for 10 minutes in it. I won't go into the story. It's so simple and cheesy sometimes that this is your no-brainer. I enjoyed it but I do understand that the day after watching it most of the people will forgot this flick. Sad to see also that Sarah after her excellent performance in the I Spit On Your Grave remake is only being typecast. Just hope it's no free fall for her career.

If you are into low budget action thrillers then you will enjoy this but if you want to think about whodunit or what's going on, leave this for what it is.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

'FREE FALL': Two Stars (Out of Five)

Low-budget B action flick about the career driven employee of a corrupt L.A. business, who uncovers incriminating company secrets and is hunted by an assassin; in order to silence her. The chase becomes more interesting when she becomes trapped in a company elevator. The film stars Sarah Butler (of 'I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE' fame), D.B. Sweeney, Ian Gomez and Malcolm McDowell. It was directed by veteran horror movie producer, turned first time feature film director, Malek Akkad and written by Dwayne Alexander Smith. I found the silly thriller to be slightly entertaining but mostly dull and forgettable.

Butler plays Jane Porter, an ambitious young employee of Gault Enterprises. Her boyfriend, Ray (Jayson Blair), wants her to spend less time at work and more time with him; but Jane is obsessed with her job. Her world is thrown upside down when a beloved coworker shows up dead, from an apparent suicide. Jane finds a thumb drive containing secret information about her boss, CEO Thaddeus Gault (McDowell), that most likely got her coworker killed. When another employee, Jane's supervisor Ronald Taft (Gomez), learns of her discovery, he calls in the company's hit-man, Frank (Sweeney), to clean up the mess. Things come to a standstill when Jane gets stuck on an elevator and Frank can't reach her.

The movie is pretty cheesy and filled with laughable suspense and bad acting. It's one saving grace is D.B. Sweeney; he's a delight to watch and he seems to be having a lot of fun playing this psycho killer. McDowell and Gomez are both good too but they're parts are too small. Butler is neither believable or likable, in her role. Most of all the film is just boring and uneventful; it completely lacks any originality or cleverness, at all. It's completely a waste of time; except for when Sweeney is on screen, of course.

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Jane Porter (Sarah Butler) works at Gault Capital. She's shocked when her supervisor Ronald Taft (Ian Gomez) tells her about a co-worker's apparent suicide jump off the building. Thaddeus Gault (Malcolm McDowell) offers her the job to replace him. She uncovers wrongdoing and tells Ronald. Ronald calls in Frank (D.B. Sweeney) to clean up the situation. Jane gets trapped in the elevator.

The writing is rather simplistic. Once she gets stuck in the elevator, the movie also gets a bit stuck. It's a hard premise to work and there is no imagination behind this to get it working. The outside story has no effect. At one point, Jane yells at Frank to "Do Something". I know the feeling. This is confined space thriller without any skills or originality.