Review of 'Fall Guy'

Hollywood stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is seriously hurt when filming a film stunt causing him to abandon his career and his relationship with camerawoman Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). 18 months later working as a hotel valet he is convinced to return to films by film producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) when she informs him that Jody has achieved her dream directing her first film. Travelling to Australia Colt sees the production is going very badly with the star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), no where to be found. When Jody finds out that Gail has brought Colt back she is angry at being rejected and forces him to repeat a painful stunt several times. Gail convinces Colt to find Tom and bring him back to save the picture but it is not that simple…

An action-packed film focusing on an under-appreciated aspect of film-making: The people who perform dangerous stunts for our entertainment. As you might expect, there are loads of amazing, preposterous, stunts here from a fight in a garbage skip being dragged through the busy streets of Sydney, a boat crashing through an exploding fuel depot, a jump from a helicopter, to a spectacular 250 foot car jump, all done with a sense of fun with the stakes ramped up again and again, as with the spectacle. They are very well done and look incredibly real.

Gosling is his normal charming self, well suited to this role of wise-cracking action hero however it often feels the filmmakers did not fully utilize his talent with him showing a small smile and left to simply react to what is going on rather than actually act. Having said that, Blunt is well used here and great in her role as wronged lover trying to understand why she was rejected and frustrated by Colt's inability to explain. She has the right touch of both romantic lead and mild vindictiveness that makes her quite interesting.

The film does not take itself too seriously with the jokes flying thick and fast, which is all the better. Even so the plot is reasonably twisty to keep many viewers guessing though it is a bit obvious about half way through what is really going on so it is just a matter of capturing the bad guys in an imaginative way. The final sequence works really well on a number of levels - plot, action and character).

I was a huge fan of the 1980s show of the same name staring a then older Lee Majors who was famous for his role as the Bionic Man in earlier decades. It was always a lot of fun with Lee and his companions using their stunt skills to put baddies to justice. It was fantastic to see in this film a cameo by the man himself playing an unconvincing cop – very tongue-in-cheek much like the rest of the film. Not only that, the credit music is the theme music for the TV show “Unknown Stuntman” (and now I am having trouble getting the damn thing out of my head). It is also good to stick around for the credits anyway as they show background footage of the film stunts being shot including some rather scary looking accidents…

A great deal of fun with characters that entertain, unbelievable stunts and a plot that keeps things interesting.

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Review Date: 2026-03-24

Directed by: David Leitch

Studio: 87North

Year: 2024

Length: 126 minutes

Genre: Action/Adventure

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1684562/

• Deadpool 2 (2018)
• Bullet Train (2022)