He’s a stuntman, and like everyone in the stunt community, he gets blown up, shot, crashed, thrown through windows and dropped from the highest of heights, all for our entertainment. And now, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, this working-class hero (Gosling) has to track down a missing movie star (Taylor-Johnson), solve a conspiracy and try to win back the love of his life (Blunt) while still doing his day job. What could possibly go right?
- Based on "The Fall Guy" (TV) created by Glen A. Larson.
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In Hollywood, there seems to be a recipe for success: Take something that was popular, add a star and “re-imagine” it for today’s audiences. That’s their formula – and they do it because, more often than not, it works. So would The Fall Guy – a “re-imagining” of the popular 80’s TV show of the same name – be worth watching, or just another Hollywood throwaway?
Ryan Gosling leads the cast. He seems to be on a roll as of late (Barbie), and he has nailed another one with The Fall Guy. He plays his stuntman character with a lot of bravado – shaking off crazy stunts and intense action sequences – but adds a humility to him (he can’t find quite the right thing to say to the girl he likes) to make the character feel more relatable. He leaves the false bravado to Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who looks very much like he does in the upcoming Kraven the Hunter – enough that you probably shouldn’t watch these movies back to back), who plays the conceited actor to a T. Emily Blunt is also well cast, as her chemistry with Ryan Gosling works well – even if she does get left out of most of the fun stuff in the film.
The storyline is pretty simplistic, and if The Fall Guy would give the viewers a moment to ponder it, they could probably guess the whole setup long before the movie reveals it. Thankfully, the film recognizes this, so doesn’t give the viewer a moment of downtime. The film lets the viewer know almost from the start this is going to be all about the fun, and doesn’t let them down. With lots of both outright humor and meta-tinged humor (the characters talk about having a split screen in the film while they are being shown in split screen, the girl singing “All By Myself” thinking the guy she likes is gone – not noticing him careening by in the midst of a fight on a moving vehicle, etc.) that should get the viewers both chuckling and laughing out loud. And then there’s the action.
Since the film is about a stuntman, it’s to be expected there are going to be a lot of stunts in the film. And oh boy, are there! Because of the main character, there is a chance that it’s only perception making it feel like there’s twice as many stunts in The Fall Guy than in other films, but it sure doesn’t seem that way. The action sequences make up most of the film, and are so wild it’s a wonder no one actually got hurt filming them. Fight sequences range throughout two levels of a penthouse, a chase turns into a fight that lasts something like 10 city blocks, etc. It definitely keeps the viewer entertained, especially when they toss in humor throughout. This film is an outright homage to the oft forgotten stuntman (even down to the ‘Ballad of the Unknown Stuntman’ that plays during the credits) – and in this case, it’s a fitting homage.
With lots of humor hitting its mark, Ryan Gosling heading a cast that seems to be in on the joke, and well done action sequences flying at the viewer almost non-stop, The Fall Guy is a fun action comedy that knows not to take itself too seriously – and the viewer is all the happier because of it.
