Sitting at maybe the high point of his entire career at the moment after stealing both Barbie and the entire Oscars night with his correctly much-lauded portrayal of Ken, it might seem odd that Ryan Gosling’s next move is to reboot an almost-entirely forgotten Lee Majors ‘80s TV show for the big screen. Yet, that’s where we find ourselves with The Fall Guy, Gosling and director David Leitch’s epic-scale homage-paying to the unsung heroes of Hollywood – the stunt teams. It’s a nice and mostly fun tribute, but one that needed a bit more faith in its own premise, instead of relying on a noirish action plot that swiftly becomes cumbersome.
Retaining the TV series’ odd name of Colt Seavers, Gosling very convincingly makes the transition from Ken to Action Man. Called to Sydney on a last-minute job by uber-intense produce Gail (Hannah Waddingham) to double for worldwide megastar Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) on a sci-fi action epic, it’s not long before Colt finds himself embroiled in a mystery involving murder, hallucinogens, and a missing leading man. Oh, and to make matters more complicated, the director of the movie (called Metalstorm) is the former love of Colt’s life, Jody (Emily Blunt), with whom things ended rather badly.
It’s a story that keeps piling more and more stuff on, starting out really fun but becoming a drag by the time the endless third act rolls around – The Fall Guy runs at just over two hours but does feel longer. It’s a shame, because the central romance between Colt and Jody really does work – Gosling and Blunt are great together as old feelings rekindle – and the stunts themselves are consistently a thrill, all while often being genuinely instructive for audiences as to exactly how all these Hollywood action scenes actually work on set.
When these two core elements are allowed time to shine, The Fall Guy is a blast, but there is often something getting in the way, whether that be an overextended drugs trip bit or the arrival of some mysterious henchmen wielding some very real guns. There’s a nice streak of humour throughout and though Drew Pearce’s script is tonally very similar to the grating self-satisfaction of Leitch’s last film, the interminable Bullet Train, Gosling is more capable of making these jokes sing than Brad Pitt was, his capacity for funny self-deprecation saving the film from itself more often than not.
Given how badly stuntpeople are overlooked in Hollywood (please let the next Oscars ceremony be the last one without a stunts award), The Fall Guy is a pleasingly powerful corrective to the constant narratives of actors doing all their own stunts, wrapping that earnest message in some good old fashioned dumb fun. Even if it does end up noticeably spinning its wheels as it approaches its denouement, Gosling’s star power keeps things bouncing along, while his own stunt guys do what they do best – crashing cars, jumping out of windows, and being set on fire – a hymn to all the people who make action heroes look so damn cool.
Jack Blackwell – Film Reviews 
A great review. I am definitely looking to watch this movie soon. I’m a huge fan of Gosling who has proven an outstanding actor. Loved his performance as a jazz musician in “La La Land”. Here’s why:
Your writing is so fucking bad you should kill yourself.
Good review. I felt that the movie was good, but could’ve been better in a few areas. The concept idea / premise for the plot was good, but took a while to develop and some of those storytelling elements sort of went on a bit of a tangent, especially the third act finale. Still, Gosling and Blunt were solid in it and I did like how the film paid its respects to the stunt community.