The Fall Guy

It's the first Friday in May which is the starting of the summer film season, and what a perfect movie to kick it off with in the form of "The Fall Guy". There have been several films in the past that center around the movie stunt business, but the one that comes to mind is "The Stunt Man" with Peter O'Toole and Steve Railsback, about an intense story between the director (O'Toole) and the stunt man (Railsback), whereas this film is also comprised of a director (Blunt) and a stunt man (Gosling)--totally different stories, but has an interesting relationship.

Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is a stunt man, and like everyone else in the stunt community,he gets blown up, shot, crashed, thrown through windows, and dropped from the highest of heights, all for our entertainment. And now, 18 months later, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, this working-class hero has to track down a missing movie star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), solve a conspiracy, and attempt to win back the love of his life, his director, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) while still doing his day job. What could possibly go right? 

Others to round out the cast are Hannah Waddingham as Gail Meyer, Teresa Palmer as Iggy Starr, Stephanie Hsu as Alma Milan, Winston Duke as Dan Tucker, Ben Knight as Dressler, Matuse as Doone, Adam Dunn as Nigel and Zara Michales as Venti Kushner.

This was directed with action-packed frenzy by David Leitch ("Atomic Blonde" '17, "Deadpool 2" '18, "Once Upon a Deadpool" '18, "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" '19, "Bullet Train" '22) plus shorts and a music video. Considering Leitch was behind the camera, I was confident that this film would be crafted well with a director that knows his way around an action-packed movie, hence his resume.The staging and pacing was consummate as was his ability to work well with his actors. This is the quintessential action director. It was creatively written by Drew Pearce )"No Heroics" (TV movie) '09, "Iron Man 3" '13, "Mission: Impossible--Rogue Nation" '15, "Hotel Artemis" '18, "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" (story) '19) plus TV and videos, based on the TV series created by Glen A. Larson. It was a well thought out, cohesive and concise script, and other than a couple of very small places of slowness, this screenplay was solid. It was also a bit long-in-the-tooth. It was a two plus hour running time and could've been shaved down to a two hour running time, and not destroy any impact from the story. I felt the chemistry between Gosling and Blunt was effective and captivating, and it's one of the films of this genre that carries as much action as it does comedy and that's refreshing. "Bullet Train" was also able to pull off this concept as well--of course it was directed by Leitch. 

If you are a fan of Gosling and/or Blunt, you'll revel with this. But certainly if you like humor right along with a great action film, this is certainly another reason to go to the multiplex. Also, if you want to see this film up, close and personal, it is presented in an IMAX format as well. If you saw the trailer, you then know what the film is like, since the trailer practically matches the film.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                       Rated: PG-13                                       127mins.