For the second time in 2024, I have to use the phrase “spiritual successor” when it comes to a big screen extravaganza. Road House kind of set the bar there, and at the least The Fall Guy stands nose-to-nose with it.
Bullet Train director and known stunt performer David Leitch directs this version of the ‘80s action series with Ryan Gosling playing Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stuntman that has become the go-to for action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). When an on-set incident injures Seaver’s back, he leaves the industry and the woman he loves in camera operator Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) behind. A year and a half pass by with him working as a valet car parker when he gets a call from Ryder’s agent, Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham), who wants him back in the business on a film she is producing in Australia that also happens to be directed by Moreno. Once he gets there and starts working, he finds out that not only does Moreno NOT know he was coming but Meyer wants him to work in the shadows to find Ryder, who has gone missing and is hanging out with the wrong crowd. And then… here we go.
About halfway through The Fall Guy, I realized that this is really the film that is kicking off the Summer Movie Season. While we have this telegraphed for us WELL In advance, there wasn’t a lot of talk about this being a thing. Really, all I saw was just the traditional marketing for a film that is neither a remake or a reboot or even a “re-imagining” but the phrase I used at the beginning of this review. While it is kind of an homage to those types of films, this one kicks off the money-making summer for Hollywood in a way that I think will give it some staying power for a good chunk of at least the first month. Gosling has really been able to show the comedic side of his talent as of late (don’t forget his hosting of SNL last month, which was one of the best episodes of this season), and this film takes that to the next level. He has GREAT chemistry with Blunt, who is also one of the best and most versatile actors out there right now, in a script from Drew Pearce (Hotel Artemis, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) that is non-stop fun while also being a huge thank-you letter on multiple levels to some of the most unsung performers in entertainment. For the record, I fully am on-board with Best Stunt Work to be a category for the Academy Awards.
In contrast to some other films out there right now, The Fall Guy also knows how to use needle drops at the best times. Using one song as pretty much the motif for most of the film, it also gives other nods to classic rock that keeps the adrenaline-filled visuals performing on a red-line level that had the entire audience I screened it with hitting every beat within the story at exactly the right time in the right ways. I may have to check the track listing on the soundtrack as I ponder whether or not to pick and choose the tracks to buy or just get the whole doggone thing.
If you really want to understand my feelings on The Fall Guy, I will put it to you this way: I saw it two days before writing this review, and if plans fall correctly, I will be seeing it again two days after writing this review in the biggest and loudest way possible. For the first viewing especially, I would say there is no other way to do so. Go now, go often, go again!