The 1981 TV show The Fall Guy on ABC channel starred Lee Majors and introduced us to a stuntman who made his living as a bounty hunter. The 2024 film, which premiered in late February, moves away from the inspired narrative, however, it still features some mentions of it, such as the series’ theme song being part of the film’s soundtrack.
The Fall Guy tells the story of the stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) who suffers an accident on the recording set but returns to action a year later when the movie star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who was his stunt double, suddenly disappears.
Needing to get his life back on track, Colt plays the action scenes and simultaneously tries to recover his love interest, the movie director, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). But, as he becomes engaged in this mystery, he sees his position becoming more involved in a crime.
With direction from David Leitch, who before was in the production of movies like John Wick and Bullet Train and also has already participated as a stuntman in some films, The Fall Guy brings a love letter to the stunt profession and the technical team. With Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, two actors at their peak because of Barbie and Oppenheimer (phenomenon Barbenheimer), the film mixes up action, comedy, and a little romance.
Do all these points make it a five-star movie?
As expected from the movie’s plot, the action is very present throughout the story. It has many dangerous scenes, cars overturning, explosions, and dangerous jumps, almost as if it were a catalog of everything a stuntman can do like it is praising their work. The construction of fighting and jumping techniques are impeccable and super well-made. It is also worth noting the beautiful photography in these takes.
When we talk about the comedy in the movie, all we can think about is Ryan Gosling’s perfect timing to make it work. The actor carries this humor throughout the entire film, with his expressions and references to old pictures, and songs, all at the perfect moment. However, the problem arises when they include Emily Blunt in this regard. The actress of A Quiet Place can’t keep up with her scene partner, and her comedy scenes lose meaning.
The drama/romance part is a little lost in the film since the main actors have no chemistry. It seems that this entire part is introduced just to alleviate the other scenes, but at the same time, it is not used well. So, it feels that this part was included only to help the plot, not to add to it.
Furthermore, the script doesn’t help and fails at several points. It’s as if it didn’t follow the whole picture, going into disagreement with the level of filming and photography, throwing in lots of jokes and references without worrying so much about the content it is offering.
With all these points, however, it is still possible to mention the incredible soundtrack (which includes Taylor Swift), the plot twist, the mention of the Oscars to recognize the stuntmen, and the very intelligent way of using a film within the film.
It is very clear, watching the film, that it sets out to achieve what it promises, to be a “watch-with-your-family” movie type, that pays a beautiful tribute to all the stuntmen. With a cool comedy, very good and well-crafted action scenes, and a weak romance, it doesn’t have enough to be a 5-star film.
It wasn’t this time that bringing together several movie stars worked because, without Ryan Gosling, the film wouldn’t be sustainable. In conclusion, we can give a five-star rating to Ken, and a three-point five rating to the movie.
The article above was edited by Isabelle Bignardi and translated by Julia Tortoriello.
Liked this type of content? Check Her Campus Cásper Líbero home page for more!