The Fall and Get Back Up Guy

The Fall Guy is a is hard movie to slap a genre on. It's an action film. It's a rom-com. It's an old fashioned star vehicle. The result is a very entertaining but niche $130 million love letter to the stunt community that leans hard on two insanely charismatic leads.

In fairness, calling Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt co leads is a bit of a stretch as it is really the story of Gosling's stunt man Colt Seavers. He begins the film loved up with camera women Jody Moreno (Blunt) before an accident at work causes him to lose confidence in himself and ghost her. Eighteen months later he gets a call asking him to come out of stunt exile to help on Jody's directorial debut but things don't work out as he hoped when Jody doesn't actually want him there and he is roped into tracking down the productions missing leading man, an ab flaunting, obnoxious idiot played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Gosling is in full movie star mode here, buffed up and charismatic even though Colt is something of an idiot and clearly in way over his head. He is great in the action scenes as the stuntman uses his trade skills on instinct to, just about, stay one step ahead of villains trying to off him and his chemistry with Blunt really carries the movie. It's a pity the writers couldn't find a way for them to have more scenes together, or fit Blunt in more full stop. She is great every time she is on screen, levelling gosling with deadpan humour and effortlessly avoiding the frat bro lite or one note sarcasm vibe these type of characters are often saddled with. There are also some fun side characters, including a dog called Jean Claude who, provided you can speak French, seems to have a human level understanding of everything that is said.

A moderately remembered TV show from the eighties may seem a strange subject for a movie of this scale but it's clear director David Leitch is out to pay some respect to Hollywood's stunt performers. Himself a former stuntman, the Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train helmer puts together some great set pieces which are even more impressive once you've watched the on set footage of how they were done that runs alongside the credits. There are shots fired at actors who claim to do all their own stunts with Taylor-Johnson's braggart "world's biggest action star" terrified of doing stunts despite his boasts and multiple references to Tom Cruise.

Impressive stunts, real laughs and star power mean The Fall Guy is a fun couple of hours but it isn't completely smooth sailing. The ending is a little drawn out and with Chekhov's Guns needing unloaded all over the place the self referential script can come across a little smug. Still, an original action movie this inventive and entertaining is always a welcome sight.

7 speedboats jumping over 10 explosions.

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