Directed By David Leitch

Starring – Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson

The Plot – Colt Seavers (Gosling) is 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 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?

Rated PG-13 for action and violence, drug content and some strong adult language.

The Fall Guy | Official Trailer (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

In terms of entertaining and educative values, “The Fall Guy” is a genre-absorbing, high octane thrill ride into the dangerously unpredictable world of stuntmen, complete with Leitch’s own campy personality doing much of the steering through death-defying circumstances aplenty. It’s an unchained experience offering a rich variety of emotional complexity, as a romantic comedy and action juggernaut hybrid, but one that never feels sacrifices the integrity of one for the other, instead maintaining emphasis in the rollercoaster of emotions that Leitch crafts towards painting an atmospherically reflective parallel to the daringly unbelievable objectives that these magicians are asked to conjure every single day, all without a shred of thanks from a union that figuratively and sometimes quite literally chews them up and spits them out. As expected, the action sequences should be top notch, especially in a film pertaining to stunt men, but what I applaud is the versatility of the capture between worlds within the film, fictional and non, that are framed and edited with varying levels of intensity, allowing the conflicts away from the glitz and glamour of the camera to bare a much more riveting consistency to their various appeals, all with an overhanging fun factor to the variety of landscapes and automobiles to the various set pieces that gives the audience very little moments to catch their breath, once the conflict fully materializes. Enveloped in that conflict is the dynamic duo of Gosling and Blunt, who not only radiate the kind of infectiously intoxicating charisma that makes it easy to invest in their characters, but also an effortless chemistry with lived-in believability to their interactions that has us hanging on to their every word. For Blunt, she’s much of the prize to our protagonist, but one who refuses to ever be a damsel in distress, instead affording her a deliciously caustic wit and intimidating bravado that illustrates why she’s so special to Colt, in the first place, and this is only enhanced further with Gosling’s previously solidified cool factor that isn’t afraid to be compromised, as a result of the humility and tenderness that he supplants to the otherwise resilient character. Together, the two enhance the appeal of the narrative whenever they’re allowed to share the screen with one another, and between therapeutic jam-outs to Taylor Swift, walkie talkie conversations atop hundreds of feet of artificial sets and backdrops, or Kiss scoring the blossoming love between them, it’s clear that these two were born for each other, and it makes me only want more movies with Gosling and Blunt serving as romantic protagonists, if even just for an opportunity to sample their off-screen friendship that transitions so smoothly to romantic interests. Aside from the performances and impactful action set pieces, there’s an art-imitating life quality to the film that succeeds far beyond just an insightfully detailed look into the perspective of stuntmen, resulting to several winks and nods to the audience that will pay-off tremendously for those with a knowledge to the movie’s production. Leitch himself being a stuntman-turned-director gives him the knowledge of experience to capably cover Colt’s routine, but also his working of Gosling’s actual stuntman, Chris Matheson, towards stealing one particular scene, in which he congratulates Colt for pulling off the stunt, when in reality it was Matheson who pulled off the stunt for the film surrounding the film, if that makes sense. These quirky touches are deposited everywhere throughout the film, with even one big time cameo converging this film with the 80’s TV show that it originally spawned from, and while it’s never delivered with a self-awareness that could obliterate the context of the fictional world depicted in the film, it serves as these unique touches to production appreciators like me, with its appealing brand of Easter-egging that proves that the right people were in fact involved in its manufacturing. Lastly, despite some issues with the opening act that I will chronicle in a second, as well as two third acts for the price of one, I never found myself flustered or conflicted by the consistency of the film’s pacing, especially while in the confines of this love angle between Gosling and Blunt, which easily serves as the movie’s single biggest strength. For my money, the film could’ve definitely cut the other subplots surrounding it, but I never felt bored or tedious by the level of investment that the movie required out of me, instead serving as that rare two hour romantic comedy or action thriller with a lot to say about the business, as well as something vital or particular to every side of the audience demographic.

NEGATIVES

With plenty in its favor, “The Fall Guy” isn’t without nagging flaws, especially in that of the succeeding conflict in plot that drives more of the mystery elements of the storytelling. I’m talking about the aforementioned conspiracy angle surrounding Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character, which not only takes a bit too long to properly materialize, but also feels plagued by the predictability of the movie’s limited ensemble, with only so many possible avenues of exploration that this film could capably steer us towards, in search of the master culprit behind everything. This obviously led to my sniffing out its big reveal as early as an hour before it was actually delivered, but beyond that led to a care-free exertion to my interpretation that served as a result of spending so little time with Taylor-Johnson’s character, in turn leading to a secondary subplot that can’t maintain the fiery and irresistible charms of a love story between two characters who I truly couldn’t get enough of. In addition to this, I found the movie’s comedy to fall a bit flat and inconsistent in the depths of its material, primarily when it’s trying too hard with silliness that felt conflicting to the integrity of the world that was conjured here. While I previously commended Gosling for the humility given to his character, which brings to life more of the deprecation that has given second wind to him as a comedic actor, the tumultuous gags referred to here pertain more to exaggerated and prolonged deliveries that feel almost sitcom-like in their structure, in turn leading to underwhelming comedy that wasn’t as polished or palpable as the elements of romance and action that effortlessly attained notoriety to the integrity of the picture. Finally, while probably not an issue to mainstream audiences who don’t think twice about it, the soundtrack selections were annoying, primarily with one Kiss song that was played seven or eight times throughout the film, to which I’m not kidding. I myself don’t have any personal problems with the Knights in Satan’s Service, but its overkill to the abundance of its usage here leads me to believe that Gene Simmons demanded frequency for its usage, resulting in the kind of maximum exposure that made me groan each time following the first two times that it forcefully adorned the audibility inside of the film’s many action or romantic moments.

OVERALL
“The Fall Guy” occasionally misses its mark with undercooked humor or inferior subplots that can’t hold a candle to the radiance of chemistry and charisma from Gosling and Blunt, who serve as its foundation. With an insightful appreciation for filmmaking and stunt work, as well as series of rivetingly enticing and fun action set pieces, Leitch is able to seamlessly transfer the integrity of the 80’s TV original to the silver screen for a new generation, solidifying a high-stakes roller-coaster of emotions sure to charm or conjure appreciation for the risk-takers of the world.

My Grade: 7/10 or B