Ever since the first trailer, this looked fun. David Leitch (ex-stuntman turned director) continues to establish himself as the guy who will make fun action movies with a bit of twist and is mostly succeeding. His film before The Fall Guy, Bullet Train (2022, my review here), was one of my favourites of 2022 (which was a great year for movies), and although The Fall Guy never reached those heights on my first viewing, I can’t wait to see it again.
First and foremost, this film is an open love letter to action movies and, most importantly, stunt people working on them. You could feel this comes from a guy who knows this industry well and has years of experience under his belt. Everything rings true from the stunt perspective, at least from the stories and interviews I have seen and heard. Yes, this is an action comedy, so you will mostly laugh; nevertheless, The Fall Guy shows you the nitty-gritty of all the action, from the planning to the numerous takes and how this is a job that takes a special kind of person who needs to be very versatile, fit and ready for anything that gets thrown their way. We see how much pain Ryan Gosling‘s character goes through, although we see it through a comedic lens.
What I appreciated the most is that it’s not too “inside baseball”. Yes, as with many “movies about making movies”, the more you know about this industry, the more little things you catch, but this movie never goes too much into it. It is more focused on the mystery of the main actor (portrayed by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) disappearing and Gosling being “hired” to not only take his place in the film but find him as well. We also have the romantic subplot regarding Gosling and Emily Blunt, and that gets intertwined during the making of this epic space movie that is definitely not Dune.
Let’s be honest, if you have ever seen a movie, the central piece of this film, aka “mystery”, isn’t really a mystery, as you could tell from miles away what is happening. Sure, maybe you don’t get all the details right, but you know the general gist, who is involved, and all that jazz. But I didn’t mind that, as for the majority of this movie, it’s fun to be in this world and with these characters. Both Ryan and Emily are excellent actors, and in this film, they can lean more into their comedic chops, and they both worked for me. The beginning and the batshit insane ending worked wonderfully.
It is the middle part of this film I had issues with. And by “issues”, I mean mainly pacing. The movie starts strong, and then it comes to a halt for some time. Don’t get me wrong, something is always happening on the screen, and I wasn’t ever “bored”, but in the second act of this film, you can feel the runtime more than you should have. It almost felt like Leitch had a problem “killing its darlings” in the assembly and didn’t cut out enough. There were a couple of scenes that ran for several minutes too long. You know how modern movies do one joke three or four times, and only then do we move on? That’s how most of the second act felt for most of those scenes; they seemed to go on for a bit too long. There is an excellent 100-minute movie hidden in this 126-minute film, and had we just shortened a few scenes (mainly in the second act), I would have had a blast.
The way the movie is now, I still enjoyed my time because the passion is palpable. This movie shines a light on people who are still, for the most part, ignored and not recognised enough. There’s the endless debate about why there are no Oscars for “Best Stunt” or “Best Stunt Performer”, and the main argument against it (from the industry) is they don’t want to push stunt people to do something dangerous to try and outdo each other, just so they can get that Oscar next year. And as much as I would love for stunts to get the recognition they badly need, I think that is a valid point. Does that mean we shouldn’t change anything? No, it just means we need to reconsider this issue; maybe don’t nominate specific people, but rather have “Best Stunts” for the ensemble cast…? Maybe that’s one way to do it, maybe not. Back to The Fall Guy – the passion is there, and I can’t fault it on a technical level either. Regarding the stunt work, there is no discussion, as some of the things you see in this are insane. I wonder how well this film will play on repeat viewings, for as it stands, I wanted to love this movie so much. After all, it has so much going for it. And I “just” liked it.
Overall, The Fall Guy is an action love ode to stunts, stunt performers and, via that lens, movies themselves. It has a very likeable leading duo, a couple of stunning stunt sequences (like that 8.5 car roll that actually is a world record, by the way) and intriguing enough mystery. The film’s only issue is the second act, where you get reminded that “less is more”. But other than that, The Fall Guy is worth seeing in the cinemas, if you can.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke