Image courtesy of IMDb
Hello, everyone.
For this review, we go into the subject of what is actually a first on here: An adaptation of a TV show.
Not only that, this serves as a love letter to a division of Hollywood that doesn’t get nearly enough recognition: stunts.
This comes to us from David Leitch, a former stuntman turned director. He made a name for himself by co-directing the original John Wick (though only Chad Stahelski received credit). He then made his solo debut with Atomic Blonde, which happened to be the subject of one of my earliest reviews.
He followed that up by taking over for Tim Miller as director for Deadpool 2, and directing the Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw as well as Bullet Train (from which one cast member appears here, but more on that later).
Now here he is directing an adaptation of an 80s TV show that happens to focus on the profession he started in.
Folks, grab your crash pads, air bags, fireproof suits, or really any stunt gear you can find, as I present my review of The Fall Guy.
The story here follows Ryan Gosling’s character Colt Seavers, who has been the longtime stunt double for renowned action star Tom Ryder (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson).
After a stunt goes wrong, Colt is left with severe injuries, and he leaves both his career and girlfriend, camerawoman Jody Moreno (played by Emily Blunt), behind.
Flash forward 18 months, and Colt is now working as a valet, while Jody is working on her directorial debut. Colt gets a call from the producer that Jody wants him, only to find out that she’s still mad with him.
He is then informed that he was brought in because Tom has gone missing, despite being the lead actor for the movie.
With Jody’s film (and possibly her career) on the line, Colt sets out to make things right, no matter how many crazy shenanigans may come his way.
What Worked: Even for an action comedy, this has one of the best casts I’ve seen so far this year.
Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt have great chemistry, and despite mounting pressure, you want everything to work out for them.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson gives another great performance, despite not being in the movie as much.
The supporting cast, though, had some of the bigger highlights for me.
I really liked Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once*) as Tom’s assistant Alma, and Hannah Waddingham as Gail, the producer of Jody’s movie, I thought was hilarious**.
The biggest surprise (and a welcome one at that) was actually Teresa Palmer as Tom’s girlfriend and costar. I didn’t realize that was her until I saw her name in the credits, and this ended up being the first movie I’ve seen her in since Hacksaw Ridge.
As for my favorite performance in the movie, the best one to me was Winston Duke (Us, Black Panther) as Colt’s best friend Dan, who’s the stunt coordinator.
Not only is he hilarious, but he also has a lot of charisma.
David Leitch’s direction here puts this at least on par with Bullet Train as his best-directed movie so far, and I’ve at least really liked all of his movies, and even loved some of them.
It’s also benefited by the excellent cinematography from Jonathan Sela, who’s worked with David Leitch ever since he co-directed the original John Wick.
The stunts themselves, the biggest selling point of the movie, are very impressive.
They even set a Guinness World Record, which is actually addressed at one point in the movie that I’ll get to later (and don’t worry, it’s not a spoiler).
Drew Pearce’s script is also very solid, and really funny, particularly with the references and the meta jokes***.
I’m glad they didn’t go too on the nose and have a psychotic studio executive (like in Tropic Thunder) or a CEO who wouldn’t know a megaphone from a saxophone. I felt they very easily could’ve done that, and I actually appreciated that they didn’t.
What Didn’t Work: I really only have two issues, and they’re more like nitpicks.
The main one is that some plot points are predictable, but the other one is that it’s 2 hours and 6 minutes, and I felt they could’ve shortened it a little bit.
However, they didn’t bother me that much.
Overall: The Fall Guy is the perfect kind of movie to kick off the Summer Movie Season. It promises a fun time, and it absolutely delivers, and then some, particularly for action fans or just film fans in general.
It still delivers for general audience members, even if not as many turned up for it as expected (and I’ll get to that in a moment), and even if they don’t automatically get all of the references and jokes.
With great performances, solid direction, writing, and cinematography, and some of the best stunt work you can see right now (and fittingly enough, in a movie about stunts), it serves as a love letter to those who risk their lives for our entertainment.
Not only that, it also serves as a call to action for the higher-ups in the industry they serve to give them bigger recognition. As it is, and right now continues to be, they don’t get nearly enough. Action fans, and film fans in general, have been clamoring for this for years, and it continues to be long overdue.
If the first half of the credits (where they show a behind the scenes montage of how they did the stunts in this, and even mention the record they set) does not convince them enough, I and so many others at this point more than likely don’t know what will.
The Summer Movie Season kicked off with a bang with this movie, at least from a critical standpoint.
From a financial standpoint, though, not so much.
Even though it opened atop the box office, it still underperformed (so basically, it’s bombing), and it recently arrived on Digital due to how Universal’s release policy works now. If one of their movies doesn’t open to at least $50 million, they release it on Digital two weeks later. This opened to a little over half.
It really is a shame, so if it’s still in a theater in your area, I would say go check it out.
Even if you want to just check it out on Digital, or wait for streaming or physical media, regardless of how and when you see it, this deserves way more attention than it’s gotten.
Be sure to stay through at least the first half of the credits, as there is also a hilarious mid-credits scene.
Next time, we go from a tribute to stunts to a tribute to something a little more well-known from Universal’s catalog.
*Let’s just say I have a lot to go into on certain aspects of that. Some of them I considered mentioning here in the Side Notes, but they ultimately would’ve distracted from the review already in progress.
**She’s also getting more work, as she was just in The Garfield Movie (which has now come out, since this review was so late) and she’s about to be in the next Mission: Impossible film (which has its own share of problems going on (including the title, which shouldn’t have been one to begin with), but I digress).
***That’s another way of saying self-aware or self-referential. It’s the type of humor that Scream in particular is known for. Basically, it’s the type of humor that’s just short of breaking the fourth wall like Deadpool is known for. They don’t stop the movie to make a joke like he would, and then go back to the narrative. It’s not like that, as there is a difference.