MOVIE REVIEW! - 'The Fall Guy'

'The Fall Guy' (2024)

FULL REVIEW UNDER THE RATINGS!

Stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) seems to have it all. He’s an expert stuntman for the biggest action star in Hollywood Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and he is with the girl of his dreams, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). However, when a stunt goes horribly wrong, Colt retires from being a stuntman and he and Jody break up.

Over a year later, Colt is contacted by Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham), Ryder’s producer. She reveals that Jody is finally directing her first picture, “Metalstorm”, and Jody has requested that she wants Colt to come in to do a big stunt for the movie. When Cody gets there, though, he discovers that Jody definitely does not want him there.

Gail then reveals that she really wants Colt to find Ryder who has disappeared and is apparently involved with some major drug dealers. She claims that if she involves the police, they’ll shut the picture down. Not wanting Jody’s big break to be jeopardized, Colt agrees to go after Ryder and soon finds himself involved in a far greater plot.

I’ll go ahead and say right at the top here that the movie only has two criticisms. First, the plot is quite absurd, though this isn’t the kind of movie that is concerned about that sort of thing. Secondly, it takes a little bit of time to build up steam but once it does, it’s a banger of an action film.

The stunts are real in 'The Fall Guy'!

The biggest thing that elevates what would have been an otherwise mediocre story is the undeniable chemistry between Gosling and Blunt and their undeniable and effortless talents as actors. You cast anyone else in the lead roles of Colt Seavers and Jody Moreno and you might as well hang it up as the movie probably wouldn’t work.

The second thing that elevates the movie is that it is a genuine love letter to stuntmen and what they do to make all that action look cool as hell! The stunts here are real people and the movie even broke a world record for air cannon rolls by a car with eight and a half rolls, beating the previous winner, 2006’s “Casino Royale”.

The third act, in general, is where the movie truly shines as director and former stuntman David Leitch basically uses the story to show off all the wonderful tricks of the trade. The movie is another feather in the cap of Leitch along with his previous action efforts such as “John Wick”, “Deadpool 2”, and “Bullet Train”.

Also, just a quick shout out to Dominic Lewis who creates a banger of a score here that does what it’s supposed to do and that’s to amp up the action!

Now, to all the fans out there of the original TV series that ran from 1981 to ‘86, I’ll go ahead and say that I never really watched the show except for maybe one or two reruns growing up. What I can say is that it doesn’t make the same mistake that movies such as “Starsky & Hutch” and “The Dukes of Hazzard” did, which is to say that they made a parody out of what they were remaking and used the source material for laughs.

Instead, “The Fall Guy” simply takes the original concept and makes a wonderful tribute to the world of stuntmen. It is an over-the-top action film that has something that is missing from a lot of modern day action films: actual action. With that and both Gosling and Blunt in the lead roles, this movie is a fun ride at the theaters!