The Fallout Review: Jenna Ortega Stuns In Deftly Handled School Shooting Drama
Mere weeks after surviving multiple encounters with Ghostface in Scream, Jenna Ortega stands as the survivor of another tragedy — this time, a far too real one — in Megan Park's directorial debut The Fallout. After winning accolades at last year's virtual South by Southwest festival, The Fallout arrives on HBO Max today, where it will surely find a wider audience drawn in by Ortega's rising star power and the timely subject matter. It can be easy to assume a film about a school shooting is exploitative and has nothing new to say, but in Park's capable hands, this movie is far more than an after school special. Enriched by a profound performance from Ortega, The Fallout is a nuanced take on tragedy that focuses on the difficult question of what comes after.
The film begins with 16-year-old Vada (Ortega) having a perfectly normal day. She's late for school, she sings in the car alongside her best friend Nick (Will Ropp), and she lends comfort to her younger sister Amelia (Lumi Pollack) when she unexpectedly gets her first period. However, while talking to popular classmate Mia (Maddie Ziegler) in the bathroom, Vada's life is turned upside down when an active shooter targets her school. Though she emerges physically unscathed, Vada is left a shell of herself in the wake of the tragedy, unable to move on. As she forms a deeper connection with Mia, Vada struggles to cope with her changed world.
Related: All HBO Max Original Shows & Movies Releasing In 2022
Right from the outset, Park makes a smart decision and keeps the shooting offscreen. Instead of witnessing the bloodshed, viewers are kept inside a cramped bathroom stall with Vada and Mia as gunshots and screams sound all around them. The sequence is the hardest to
Read more on screenrant.com
