Just about every year a Hollywood movie will come out that’s all about how much the movie business loves itself. Some of the greatest films of all time like “Singin’ in the Rain” and recent Oscar winners like “La La Land” are basically an excuse for filmmakers to wax poetic about making millions of dollars from playing make-believe all day.
And while those movies mostly focus on the directors and lead actors of movies, there is one area of Hollywood that rarely gets the attention it deserves: the stunt community. Action movies are one of the biggest bankable genres out there, and while some stars such as Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves praise their stunt teams, it’s mostly been overlooked.
That is, until now, with “The Fall Guy,” a Hollywood love letter to the people you see blown up, lit on fire, flipping in cars and jumping great lengths and heights for your entertainment. It’s loosely based on the 1980s TV series starring Lee Majors, but this movie means a lot more than simply being a big-screen adaptation.
That’s mostly thanks to director David Leitch, who is best known today as the director of action films like “Atomic Blonde” and Bullet Train,” but he spent the previous couple of decades as a stuntman himself — notably for Brad Pitt in “Fight Club” and “Ocean’s Eleven” — before becoming a stunt coordinator for entire productions.
And when you love movies as much as Leitch does and appreciate the blood, sweat and tears that go into the magic of scenes like Charlton Heston racing horse-drawn chariots, James Bond (Rick Sylvester) skiing off a mountain and revealing a Union Jack parachute and Tom Cruise climbing the Burj Khalifa, then “The Fall Guy” is for you.
After leaving the business one year earlier following a movie stunt gone wrong, battle-scarred stuntman Colt Seavers (played by Ryan Gosling) is asked back to the set by the producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) of his last film action, who tells him the director, his ex Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), really wants him there.
But when Colt arrives, Gail tells him his services are needed elsewhere: the star of the movie, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has mysteriously disappeared. As Ryder’s former stuntman, it’s up to him to find the missing star and save Jody’s debut feature from becoming a disaster.
While mostly an excuse to show off and applaud a variety of stunts, the heart of this story lies in its love story between the fall guy and his director, which is wonderfully brought to life by Gosling and Blunt. The two had never been in a movie together before, but you’d swear they’ve been friends forever based on their chemistry here — or maybe their acting is just that good. Either way, while seeing Gosling’s character on fire and flipped 30 feet is fun, knowing he’s doing it for the girl he loves makes it all the more satisfying.
As for those stunts, it’s the reason most audience members will be in the theater and they shouldn’t be disappointed. Everything from sword fights to close combat, car chases to boat chases, have their moment to shine here. And since we know nearly all of the stunts were done without CGI, the hits feel harder and the successful moves come off even more impressively.
If only the rest of the plot lived up to those stunts and that love story. Both Waddingham and Taylor-Johnson are fine actors, but the mystery of the movie star is both confusing and a long stretch to believe as it goes on. It’s not really the point of the movie beyond a way to get us from one action set piece to the next, but it would have been nice if it worked.
Still, that doesn’t take away from the love of movies and the people who make them that “The Fall Guy” so passionately puts together. At one point, a fan asks Gosling’s character if they give Oscars for stunts, and after a quick pause and look to the camera, he sadly tells the fan no. I hope the Academy is watching.
