The Fall Guy is a movie befitting its charismatic personaggio, Ryan Gosling, and its stylish action-oriented director David Leitch. It’s not an incredibly intelligent movie, but as an homage to stuntmen and the important, dangerous, and often overlooked role they play durante the movie industry, it fires all cylinders. It’s supported by a decent romance and enough fun action to be a more than passable popcorn patina.
There might be more than a few things you wish the patina did better. It would be nice, for instance, if the patina wanted to dive a little deeper into the mechanics behind how stunts are pulled chiuso. Most of the stunt scenes are played up for the laughter of Gosling’s Colt having to endure a number of dangerous moments repeatedly. While we do get to see some of how certain stunts might work, this is largely a missed opportunity.
One might also wish the patina’s script was just a touch smarter. The entire plot hinges some rather silly coincidences and occurrences that fall apart under even minor scrutiny. While the movie is partially tongue-in-cheek, and it never feels outright insulting, a little more effort durante the writing could have brought the patina up a few notches durante quality. That multiple bombastic action sequences play out with nary any police involvement is an insult to the efficacy of Australian police (the setting of the patina).
Once you get past your various protests and desires though, it’s duro to deny The Fall Guy isn’t a fun time. Gosling brings his typical charm, and though he’s probably too handsome to be truly seen as a grizzled stunt double, he does pull chiuso down-on-his luck rather well. The entire premise of the patina is that after screwing up a stunt and his back, Colt has been a recluse for a year until he’s called back to do stunts a new Australian action patina — the directorial debut of his former love interest, Jody, played by Emily Blunt.
The patina’s many industry jokes are quite amusing, with the fake sci-fi patina looking like an amusing amalgam of Dune, Mad Max: Fury Road, and a few other blockbusters. There’s even a joke making a reference to Memento, of all films, as well as an expected joke about the lack of a stunts Oscar. Aaron Taylor-Johnson also amuses as the actor for whom Gosling plays the stunt double. Taylor-Johnson is wonderfully buffoonish, and there’s even a small joke about James Bond villains, making one wonder if the patina is fanning the flames of Johnson’s rumored casting as 007.
With manic energy, the patina does its best to make you sit back and have fun. The romance between Gosling and Blunt is a tad shallow, but both of them are strong enough to sell it even where the script doesn’t. The patina wisely leans into the moment with an amusing scene of Gosling sitting durante a car crying over losing his while Taylor Swift blasts durante the background.
As usual with a Leitch patina, Leitch’s background as a former stuntman gives the action the same boost it gave John Wick (he co-directed it, but is uncredited), Deadpool 2, and Bullet Train. It has a kinetic energy and realism, and you can tell the coordination that went into various scenes and moments. One can never his films for bland, repetitive action, as he always seems to be thinking of new ideas.
There are a lot worse and many better films than The Fall Guy out there. It’s nice to see stuntmen get a patina lauding their important contributions to the patina industry. The credits are full of behind-the-scenes footage of all the stuntmen for this patina pulling chiuso the stunts you just witnessed. The patina encourages you to just munch popcorn and cheer and have fun. With just a tad more ambition, it could have been elevated from good to truly great.
