By Seth Lukas Hynes
The Fall Guy
Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt and Aaron Taylor-Johnson
M
4/5
Loosely based on the eighties TV show of the same name, The Fall Guy is an energetic, highly endearing action-comedy.
Eighteen months after a career-ending injury, stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) reconnects with his director ex-girlfriend Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) on the set of her debut film, and must track down her missing star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).
Buoyed by Gosling and Blunt’s extraordinary chemistry as estranged people slowly falling in love again, the script is witty without being too quippy, moves at a brisk pace and weaves Colt and Jody’s rekindling romance with a fun mystery plot.
The unfolding conspiracy has some muddled motives and lapses in logic, but it’s hard to care when the film is so touching and exciting, and Hannah Waddingham is delightfully deranged as Jody’s producer Gail. The film also dips into sci-fi with amusing glimpses of Metalstorm, Jody’s schlocky space war epic.
The Fall Guy is suffused with respect for stunt performers: many of the inventive, well-shot action sequences, including the bonkers climax, make overt use of stunt techniques and equipment, and the film is even bookended with stunt montages: stunts from recent blockbusters in the intro, and this film’s own stunts in the credits.
The Fall Guy even broke a real-world stunt record of the most car cannon-rolls (eight).
For Gosling, The Fall Guy marks a more lighthearted return to a stuntman persona after the 2011 noir masterpiece Drive, and as an invigorating combination of romance, laughs and thrills, The Fall Guy
pairs well with 2008’s Get Smart, which is another action-comedy adapted from a classic TV show.
A funny and heartwarming thrill-ride, The Fall Guy is playing in most Victorian cinemas.
