the fall guy

The Fall Guy is exactly the sort of movie - a breezy slice of summer escapism, turbocharged by genuine movie star chemistry - that people claim to be ravenous for, yet rarely seem to turn out in support of. Although nominally based on the 80s TV series (in which Lee Majors played a Hollywood stunt man who moonlights as a bounty hunter), the film is effectively free of any IP shackles; it’s a liberating burst of original moviemaking, lively and nimble-footed, infused with rom-com DNA and a zesty sense of spectacle… one should breathe its cleansing, oxygenated qualities deep into the lungs.

Ryan Gosling stars as Colt Seavers, stunt man extraordinaire, who enjoys a steady gig doubling pampered movie star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). However, a stunt-gone-wrong results in a fractured spine and - 18 months later - Colt has washed out of the industry, reduced to a humble life of parking cars. That presumably would be where the story concludes, only Colt receives a call from high-strung producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham of Ted Lasso), urging him to fly to Sydney, where Tom’s latest production - the sci-fi blockbuster Metalstorm - is in full swing. Tom, it seems, has gotten mixed up with some shady characters down under and appears to have gone missing… Gail wants Colt to track him down. “I don’t know why I’m talking so much,” Colt admits, in voice-over, as he prepares to get on a plane. “I’m not the hero of the story. I’m just a stunt man.”   

The setup is, admittedly, a bit muddy. Why is Tom’s former stunt double considered uniquely qualified to play amateur sleuth? Who knows. But once the ball gets rolling, the plot generates real kinetic momentum. Besides, the real reason Colt agreed to jet halfway across the world is the fact that Metalstorm’s director happens to be his ex-girlfriend Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), a former camera operator who he ghosted following his accident. Anyone with even a modest interest in the alchemy of on-screen chemistry would be wise to study this movie - the sparks Gosling and Blunt strike could ignite the theater’s carpeting if one isn’t mindful. It’s not altogether surprising. Gosling’s particular brand of laid-back cool has always meshed with that particular hint of class that comes with being British; the fact that both stars are blessed with legitimate comedic chops is a sizable bonus. Gosling is such a good performer, he’s able to maintain an air of self-aware charm even when he’s being emotionally vulnerable. Some seem disappointed that he’s retreated from the edge of his Nicolas Winding Refn collaborations for such squarely mainstream fare (The Gray Man, if we’re being honest, was the more demoralizing pivot), but he has the smooth adaptability of a true movie star - the sort whose mere presence makes something worth watching.   

The Fall Guy was directed by David Leitch who, like Colt, began life as a stunt man. He and Chad Stahelski segued into filmmaking with John Wick (though only Stahelski was ultimately credited) and their career divergence has been fascinating. Stahelski dedicated the next decade of his career entirely to the Wick franchise, raising the bar in terms of craft and overall quality with each subsequent entry, while Leitch helmed a bunch of successful studio blockbusters (Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw, Bullet Train) that did comparatively little for his reputation. There is something lacking in personal style - even a sequence as technically audacious as Atomic Blonde’s one-shot apartment complex/stairwell brawl has a certain bruising yet mechanical detachment. The Fall Guy, not surprisingly, was conceived as a valentine to stunt performers and the intricate practicality of the set pieces is impressive (at one point Colt surfs the streets of Sydney on a slab of metal that showers sparks as part of a high-speed garbage truck chase)… but even then, Leitch can’t help but revert to the comfort of jittery editing with a glossy mainstream sheen. Nonetheless, there’s a level of infectious fun on display here that can’t really be faked (particularly in comparison to a film like Bullet Train, which strains as if in childbirth to maintain its facade of manic exuberance).    ​

In spite of the initial narrative speed bumps, the story comes together smartly… riffing slyly on the title’s built-in dual meaning. But the plot is almost secondary to the movie’s core appeal, which is that a stunt man is a natural action hero, given his body’s preconditioning to absorb a perpetual pummeling. Suffice it to say, Colt takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’ - Gosling wearing the accumulated nicks and scrapes and contusions impressively well. But the movie is just as engaging when Colt and Jody are thrust together like a couple of magnets, attracting yet repelling one another (there’s a great sequence in which the two of them litigate the fallout of their breakup in front of the crew as Colt is set on fire and hurled against a rock face take after take after take). Blunt is the rare sort of talent whose latest performance always feels like the thing she should be unquestionably dedicating the rest of her career to (in this case screwball rom-coms, but one remembers a movie like Edge of Tomorrow, in which she immediately felt like the next great action heroine). The Fall Guy isn’t a substantial work of entertainment (we could talk about the fact that Jody is supposed to be a natural born director, but Metalstorm is quite obviously a piece of crap), but that’s part of the film’s specific, first-weekend-of-May appeal. It’s caffeinated cinema, designed to flood your bloodstream with a temporary sucrose high… sit back and enjoy the rush.