A long, long trip through the museum
Comment
08/26/09
The Fall (2008)
60
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:97
Fresh:58
Rotten:39
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: More visually elaborate than the fragmented story can sometimes support, The Fall walks the line between labor of love and filmmaker self-indulgence.
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $2,099,067
Synopsis: Award-winning music video, commercial and film director Tarsem Singh (The Cell) creates a moving and seamless blending of mundane life in a 1915 Los Angeles hospital with a visually sumptuous... [More]
Reviews for The Fall
I wonder if it's unforgivable heresy to say The Cell is badly underestimated and due for revisionism while The Fall, despite its relative obscurity, is badly overestimated.
06/09/09
Click to read the article
04/23/09
...a movie that not only expected me to pay attention, it assumed that I could.
02/02/09
The girl and the hospital patients and staff also turn up in his improvised adventure, extravagantly garbed by costume designer Eiko Ishioka.
12/17/08
Something like a Sir David Lean epic crossed with trippy offshoots of tall tales of Zorro, Ali Baba and Pecos Bill rolled into one, The Fall is a sun-kissed companion to Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. A brilliant follow-up from Tarsem Singh.
11/07/08
Click to read the article
10/18/08
Tarsem has found a home for his endlessly unique visions, and (wouldn't you know?) it's beyond artifice and stealing toward art.
10/18/08
The story Roy tells is involving enough and so beautifully shot (see how many locations you can name) that it's worth seeing for that alone.
10/18/08
One of the most beautiful things ever put on the big screen. On the other hand, the story is far too thin for adults, and far too dark for kids.
10/03/08
The film may look a treat in a static kind of way but the whole is a piece of turgid pictorialism that ends up unbearably dull.
10/03/08
While nice to look at, it’s also a very tedious slice of magical realism lacking in tension, suspense and, indeed, magic.
10/03/08
Beguiling, befuddling, brilliant. It’s sure to divide audiences but, for all its ocular opulence and wild fantasy, at heart The Fall is a tender, touching tale about childhood, hope and the power of story.
10/03/08
But The Fall defies low expectations, proving the director can now partner his exquisite pictures with a ripping yarn.
10/03/08
The Fall is hugely ambitious, but ultimately it's just an intriguing folly.
10/03/08
Does The Fall amount to anything more than a vast sugar-frosted folly? I'm not convinced it does, although its wanton extravagance is not without charm. Singh has money to burn and he builds a pretty bonfire.
10/03/08
Top CriticThe visuals that illustrate the fairytale fantasy are extraordinary. But the film has none of the menacing brilliance of Pan’s Labyrinth. The result is a triumph of style over talent.
10/03/08
Top CriticA must-watch for lovers of the strange and unusual, this visually ravishing oddball drama has sequences of genuine beauty and charm - even if it won't be to everyone's taste.
10/03/08
The pacing drags and the clichéd tussle between childhood innocence and adult disillusionment can only go one way. Better to experience it than think about it, fair to say.
10/03/08
Tarsem’s film is breathtakingly imaginative, but at times you’re left feeling like you’ve eaten too many sweets.
10/03/08
Top CriticLatest News for The Fall
December 08, 2008:
Roger Ebert Ranks 2008's 20 Best Films 
December isn't even halfway over yet, and many of us have already had our fill of year-end lists -- but Roger Ebert's list of the 20 best films of 2008 is one worth making an... More...
October 06, 2008:
Exclusive: The Fall - Tarsem's Visual Companion - Part 2
Its otherworldly story split critics down the middle, but none can argue with the power of its imagery. Continuing our exclusive look at the stunning visuals of Tarsem's The... More...
October 03, 2008:
Exclusive: The Fall - Tarsem's Visual Companion - Part 1
Its otherworldly story split critics down the middle, but none can argue with the power of its imagery. Opening in the UK this week, Tarsem's The Fall is one of the year's most... More...
October 03, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: How To Lose Friends & Alienate People Does Just That; Whilst Brideshead Revisited Is Resisted
In the UK cinemas this week we have two literary adaptations with Simon Pegg as an irksome hack in How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
40 Best Films of the 2000s
Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!
Virtuoso Vistas of The Lovely Bones
Techland examines the visual splendor of Peter Jackson's upcoming film.
Worst Hollywood Remakes of the Decade
Movieline gets bravely swept away with the recycled refuse of the 2000s.
Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Twitter
Get all the latest movie updates, reviews, interviews and features here.
Competitions
Win Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 prize packs
We're giving away a bunch of stuff from the upcoming Squeakquel.
Win Inglourious Basterds DVDs
We're giving away five copies of Tarantino's hit, with thanks to Universal. That's a bingo.
IGN RSS Feeds