After wowing audiences in ‘Barbie’ last year and absolutely stealing the show at this year’s Oscars with that incredible performance of ‘I’m Just Ken’, Ryan Gosling returns to the big screen for this highly anticipated reboot of the popular 80s TV series ‘The Fall Guy’, which originally starred Lee Majors. It’s safe to say the summer season has well and truly kicked off with this hilarious and heartfelt homage to the unsung heroes of the movie world – the stunt coordinators and performers.
Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is one of the best stuntmen in the world and his latest gig has him working alongside Director Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), who just happens to be his ex-girlfriend. But that’s not the only thing complicated about the situation. His leading man (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has gone missing midway through filming, so he’s tasked to track him down by his agent Gail Meyer (‘Ted Lasso’ star Hannah Waddingham).
‘The Fall Guy’ succeeds purely on the winning combination of Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. Both actors are superb in their roles. Gosling reminds us once again that there’s nothing he can’t do well (especially his Taylor Swift moment crying in his truck). His ability to deliver action and adventure echoes the greats like Harrison Ford, with his undeniable charm and screen presence making easy work of the love connection with Blunt too.
Emily Blunt has always commanded the screen with powerful and absorbing screen characters. ‘The Fall Guy’ gives her a nice chance to flex her comedy muscles and shows why she is so good at her craft. Together, Blunt and Gosling are one of the best onscreen pairings I’ve seen recently. It’s no coincidence that Gosling has now created five of the best all-time Hollywood onscreen couples in recent years, with his collaborations alongside Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, Margot Robbie, Carey Mulligan and now Emily Blunt all capturing that elusive magic.
Elsewhere, Hannah Waddingham has a laugh as a larger-than-life film producer and agent, Aaron Taylor-Johnson nails it as an arrogant and insincere leading man, Winston Duke clearly enjoys quoting famous movie lines as stunt coordinator Dan Tucker and Teresa Palmer was excellent (if underused) as the sword-wielding Iggy Starr.
Writer Drew Pearce and Director David Leitch clearly have a love for the role stunt performers play in Hollywood, and the film is a fitting homage to their unsung craft. The film is quite meta in its approach, and it covers all sorts of things including how the Oscars haven’t acknowledged the brilliant work that these people do to make movie magic truly pop on the big screen. And on that note, ‘The Fall Guy’ has some good stunt set-pieces (as you’d expect), really bringing the blockbuster season into full swing. It’s also a great film to see in IMAX.
Fans of the original TV series ‘The Fall Guy’ (as I am) will feel a bit short-changed in that this really isn’t a film that follows the series narrative at all. This movie could very easily have just been called ‘The Stuntman’ and it would have worked just fine. Apart from the main character’s name and the infamous truck (which I’m happy to say does feature in the film a fair amount), ‘The Fall Guy’ movie is very much its own beast.
As much as I enjoyed the film, if you’re looking for a reboot of the original series then this isn’t it (even though its very entertaining in its own right). Stay until the end credits which features behind the scenes stunt choreography montages, and there you’ll see a mid-credits sequence that utilises the original ‘Fall Guy’ stars Lee Majors and Heather Thomas in blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos. It also features the classic theme song, but A LOT of the lyrics have been rewritten as a sign of the times. Much like when David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser popped up at the end of the Ben Stiller/Owen Wilson parody of ‘Starsky & Hutch’, it all just feels like a half-baked afterthought, which is a shame.
If you are looking for a great night out then ‘The Fall Guy’ delivers this in abundance. Expect a lot of crazy stunts, some laughs and a brilliant love connection for the ages, with Gosling and Blunt oozing chemistry in every frame and guaranteeing ‘The Fall Guy’ as one of the most fun and enjoyable films of the year so far. With the film ending quite definitively, it’s hard to see where a sequel could go, but with genuine sparkle between Gosling and Blunt, that chemistry must be revisited again in some way soon.
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Stephanie Hsu, Teresa Palmer Director: David Leitch Writer: Drew Pearce Certificate: 12A Duration: 126 mins Released by: Universal Release date: 2nd May 2024
