Remember when making movies looked like so much fun? And the people who were in them, the coolest people on the planet? There’s a reason why the nostalgia of movie making is so intoxicating of late, as seen in such films as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Babylon. David Leitch certainly has that joy of filmmaking in him, and that appreciation comes from his many years as a stuntman, crashing and burning (literally) to make others look good and to help entertain the fans. The Fall Guy, a kinetic big Hollywood action-comedy, is Leitch’s love letter not only to movies and the joy of filmmaking, but to the unsung heroes who make those movies happen.
Leitch, a co-creator of the John Wick franchise and the director behing hit films Bullet Train, Deadpool 2, and Atomic Blonde, is doing more to restore to prominence the mystique of the Hollywood stuntman. At a time when AI and computer wizardry has made dangerous stuntwork nearly a thing of the past (it’s why we still marvel at someone like Tom Cruise), Leitch’s The Fall Guy is loud and clear in its rejection of such things. No, the charms of this film are in its tough guys who endure falls from great heights, burns, and car rolls, all while looking extremely slick as they do it.
And if you need a tough guy with a great smile, a heart of gold, and looks ultra-cool in a “Miami Vice Stunt Team” jacket, who better than Ryan Gosling? He plays Colt Seavers, a respected stuntman who, when we first meet him, has everything. Generally considered one of the best in his field, he doubles for the biggest action star in the world, Tom Ryder, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Imagine Logan Paul at his most insufferable, and that he’s doing a bad Matthew McConaughey impression at the same time. Colt also has a great thing going with burgeoning filmmaker Jody Moreno, played by Emily Blunt. The two have perfect chemistry, doing donuts in his vehicle, communicating in secret over walkie-talkie. But when Colt’s air of invincibility is cracked after a terrible accident, he shuts everyone out, including Jody, to wallow in his misery.
Eighteen months later, and Colt is working a crappy valet job, trying to stay hidden, unsuccessfully, under shades and a thick beard. He’s surprised to get a call from Diet Coke-addicted producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham), who lures him out of retirement to fly to Sunday on a special film. Metalstorm, a ridiculous Dune/John Carter-esque mish-mash, is Jody’s directorial debut and it’s in trouble. Ryder has gone missing from the production, and Gail needs Colt to find him. Why ask a stunt guy to do what is essentially the job of a bounty hunter? Well, because if the film fails it’ll be the end of Jody’s career before it really got started. Not only that, but Gail knows how badly Colt wants to get back into the business, and back into Jody’s heart. Pretty good motivations.
The “bounty hunter” thing isn’t a coincidence. The Fall Guy is based on the popular 1980s Lee Majors-led TV series, in which his version of Colt Seavers is a stuntman by day and a bounty hunter by night. Gosling’s take on Colt has a lot of the same qualities, namely a daredevil spirit and an irresistible charm. Colt onlly has an eye for one lady, though, and he’s willing to throw himself into actual danger to help her out. It isn’t long before Colt finds himself facing the business end of a katana blade by a kung-fu starlet (Teresa Palmer), chasing down squirrelly drug dealers in Sydney nightclubs, and dodging gunfire from armed stooges. All while making it back to Jody’s production before call time.
In some ways, The Fall Guy feels like the movie Leitch has been wanting to make for his entire career, but felt he’d never have the opportunity. Leitch pulls out every stunt trick he can think of and every wild, over-the-top action sequence he’s pulled from memory. There are Fast & Furious-style chases through busy streets with loose equipment swinging madly; Miami Vice boat races under moonlight, John Wick-style beat’em ups, and even K-9 action alongside an awesome stunt dog. Gosling is game for all of it, but of course, this is a movie celebrating stuntmen and Leitch makes sure they get their due for making the stars look incredible. This is a movie that makes the case for the Oscars formally honoring the work of stunt performers. I truly believe that is bound to happen someday soon and that Leitch will be a big part of making it a reality.
While Drew Pearce’s script is fast and funny with Gosling dropping one-liners and Winston Duke, as Colt’s stunt coordinator pal Dan Tucker who loves dropping killer movie quotes, The Fall Guy is sometimes too cute for its own good. There’s a noticeable drag when the action slows down, or when Gosling and Blunt are forced to exchange for too long. An interminable split-screen sequence finds Colt and Jody flirting coyly while talking shop, teasing their romantic arc with groan-worthy on-the-nose dialog. Here’s a tip: having your characters acknowledge the formulaic nature of the script isn’t a solution to the problem. Just don’t be formulaic, or find a clever way to lean into it. This happens again later with a third-act exposition dump that gets called-out, but it doesn’t stop the film from being ground to a halt. Pearce has trouble balancing the movie, which is funny but has deadly stakes, with Metalstorm, the movie within the movie, which we’re told is the project Jody has always wanted to make but is treated as pretty absurd and meaningless. Even the details around the production and the impact of Ryder’s disappearance on it are waved off like they don’t matter.
I’m probably nit-picking a bit there, because truthfully The Fall Guy is crazy fun and people are going to love it. This is summer popcorn entertainment that everyone is going to have a blast with. Gosling is a tremendous actor but this is the first time, possibly ever, that he’s felt like a megastar on the level of Tom Cruise, who coincidentally gets name-checked in this film, too. In a perfect world, The Fall Guy will lead to a greater appreciation for the craft of movie-making and stuns in partiular. And if we’re all so lucky, we’ll get to see Gosling fall, from great heights and head-over-heels, a lot more in the future.
The Fall Guy opens in theaters on May 3rd.
