The Fall Guy Review: An Explosive Thrill!

With David Leitch’s The Fall Guy releasing, it is that time of year again. Big budget, blockbuster-action films are on the horizon for the blazing summer months. Cooling down in a large theater with top of the line action is a necessity for many moviegoers, however for this critic it can be a drag.

Where CGI elements are primarily taking up the space that practical effects used to have, action/adventure films feel less human every year. Visual effects is not necessarily the problem but filmmakers application of it to mask flat characters and run-of-the-mill storylines in place of visuals that make one forget the heartlessness of the film they may be viewing. As a lover of some of the biggest action/adventure stories in history, films do not have to choose between big budgets and quality.

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The Fall Guy follows Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) a talented stunt man for the biggest action star in the world, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), taking major hits for a living and putting himself in danger daily. When he falls for camerawoman Jody (Emily Blunt) on a film set, his metaphorical fall turns into a literal one when he sustains a life-altering back injury after a failed stunt. When Jody is given the chance to direct her dream film, Colt is brought on as a stunt performer on her film as producer Gail Myers (Hannah Waddingham) seeks out his help with her own dilemma, the unknown whereabouts of star Tom Ryder.

The Fall Guy is a wildly charming action film that at its root is a love letter to stunt performers and film crews working tirelessly behind the scenes. Director David Leitch (known for the John Wick franchise), having been a stunt man himself, has a clear admiration for the intense work stunt performers must endure that have made some of the greatest film scenes in history sensational.

Ryan Gosling gives his best performance in a decade playing the insanely handsome Colt Seavers with a face almost too good to hide behind the scenes, being one of the many great laughs of the film. His chemistry with Emily Blunt, is one that is impossible not to root for, not because of the circumstances of their story, but instead because of their dazzling presence on screen together and separately. In an industry where some of the greatest love stories always happen on screen, being a stuntman and camerawoman, turned director, finding their own love story is the kind of behind the scenes magic that rarely gets portrayed.

Typically hearing familiar songs being used during action montages can be tiresome but The Fall Guy utilizes its self aware love for the “greatest hits” of film that its use of songs like ‘Thunderstruck’ by AC/DC and ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ by The Darkness feels nostalgic and calculated to pay homage to how popular films made us feel the first time we watched them.

The film’s self aware nature never teeters the line of being obnoxious because it doesn’t become overly meta or breaking the fourth wall. It maintains a great balance of dialogue and lines that feel “movie- like” while also being aware that “cinema 101” lines can become corny, but spoken the right way from a character we can’t help but love, they will never go out of style.

The Fall Guy knows how to have an insanely fun time while also showing its immense passion for film and the power it will always hold. It brings its audience together during edge of your seat stunt-action sequences and romantic actions that give us the satisfying feeling only movies can, of seeing such grand gestures, knowing we unfortunately will never have a Ryan Gosling looking stuntman ready to risk his life just so we can achieve our dreams.

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But that is what is so fun about the movies, right? Leitch and Drew Pearce know how to utilize the elements of movies that work perfectly under the right circumstances while also showing the audience the tireless work of behind the scenes crew that make magic happen. The Fall Guy is the most fun you’ll have at the movies so far this year and embodies everything about cinema that is beautiful without sacrificing its core.

‘The Fall Guy’ Rating – 4/5

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