Thumbs Up!!!!
Directed by: David Leitch
Written by: Drew Pearce, Based on Characters created by Glen A. Larson
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Winston Duke, Hannah Waddingham
Swift shot: I had the honor of working with one of the best stuntmen in the industry when we worked on Tango Down a few years ago. It’s nobody you would know, but I dare say he’s been in a lot of your favorite movies and shows!
Here’s just a few: District 9; Sherlock Holmes; Deathly Hallows, Parts 1 & 2; Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; Captain America: The First Avenger; Dredd; Guardians of the Galaxy; The Force Awakens; Rogue One; Solo; Game of Thrones; No Time to Die; House of the Dragon; Argylle; and most recently . . . the Spielberg/Hanks Apple+ series, Masters of the Air.
So, yea, he’s someone you have appreciated – probably with a “wow” or a “holy shit!” but you are never supposed to know he exists. That’s why I absolutely loved The Fall Guy, because without these men and women taking the hits and risking their asses, you’d never have these incredible cinematic moments. You’d have a CGI cartoonish mess of AI nonsense with no stakes in the game.
So, to the unsung heroes of the industry – The Fall Guy is your Anthem! It’s time to let your voices ring out, boys and girls.
David Leitch has rapidly become the industry’s go-to guy for action excellence. His Atomic Blonde and Bullet Train came out of nowhere to dominate the genre and show that not only caped crusaders can make action flicks fun and engaging. Plus, he got his start in “Stunts,” so he has an edge and eye that few possess with the balance needed to make that transition.
From the jump (or fall), we meet Colt Seavers (Gosling) who is on the set of a major motion picture and working to make his star, Tom Ryder (Taylor-Johnson) look like a super-human specimen. The opening is a one-shot sequence where Colt gives some narration and also introduces us to his on-set flame, cinematographer Jody Moreno (Blunt).
He and Jody have been messing around a bit, but they both aren’t sure where they stand with each other and as fate cruelly intervenes, they are separated just when things were starting to become . . . real.
With all this time apart, Jody is now set to make her first major motion picture, directing the film within a film, Metalstorm. And her wiry producer, Gail (Waddingham) has pulled some strings to get them back together, making movies, and maybe love?
But, it turns out Gail has another agenda, as the film’s star, you guessed it, the over-the-top narcissist Tom Ryder has gone missing.
Now Colt and his buddy, Dan (Duke) are working double shifts. With Dan as the newly minted stunt coordinator, also helping Colt get to the bottom of Tom Ryder’s disappearance. Meanwhile, Colt is trying to sort out his relationship with Jody, as they both have questions about Colt’s abrupt departure.
What elevates The Fall Guy from just a fun movie to an incredible piece of work is how Leitch masterfully weaves the complexities of working on Metalstorm with the plot and drive of the overall product. He’s got to keep you interested in three things, simultaneously. Lucky for him, he has such an incredible cast! Because if you have never worked on a film set, you can’t appreciate how many moving parts there truly are, with so many people involved in their own stuff yet also making up the end result – a, hopefully, great piece of film.
At its core, The Fall Guy is really a love story, and it is a story about the little guy overcoming insurmountable odds to get the girl. A simple plot, but there are plenty of little mysteries and naturally a SHIT TON OF FUCKING STUNTS!! If you think there weren’t enough stunts in this movie, bro, what is wrong with you??!!
It’s been decades since I watched “The Fall Guy” series, but I can remember watching that and then “The Dukes of Hazard” which had a lot of action and T&A. If I have to pick on The Fall Guy for anything, it might be there was not much sexy stuff, but that’s just me trying to find some fault with this absolute fun flick!
The Fall Guy has too many stunt people to mention here, but let’s call out Chris O’Hara who was the Stunt Coordinator and Second Unit Director. His people felt like the pulse of the whole movie, and the movie within a movie.
Look, I don’t know if this review is doing The Fall Guy justice. Let me just say – go see this fucking movie!
