"The Fall Guy" Highlights the Unknown Stunt Performers
Seriously, why is there not a Best Stunts category during The Oscars?
In film, multiple departments are given credit during awards season ranging from visual effects to original score. However, the stunt community goes unnoticed every year. No film would be possible without their talent and The Fall Guy takes a moment to give them their long overdue spotlight.
Enter Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling), a stuntman for world renowned actor Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). After a stunt gone wrong left Colt injured, he retired from stunting and seeing the love of his life every day, director Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). When producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) brings the former stuntman back into the picture years later, Colt is sent on a chase to find the missing Tom Ryder while navigating his relationship with Jody.
The Fall Guy balances intense action, hilarious comedy, and passionate romance brilliantly thanks to director David Leitch. Leitch is no stranger to these genres as he’s previously worked on films similar in nature like Bullet Train (2022) or strictly focused on the action such as the John Wick films. As a stunt performer and coordinator himself, I can’t think of anyone better to be in the director’s chair.
As for the cast, everyone was perfectly chosen for their roles. Taylor-Johnson perfectly captured the snarky and entitled actor role while shifting to be more of a suck-up and baby to Waddingham’s role as the dedicated and manipulative producer.
The highlight of the film’s acting lies in the chemistry between Gosling and Blunt. Fresh off Kenning and dropping bombs, both actors have such a tangible on-screen romance with a natural comedy to it resulting in nearly every joke making me laugh. That’s not to say every joke stuck as some were really reaching for an audience reaction, but the jokes are rather hysterical majority of the time.
I can’t talk about the cast of this film without taking a moment to appreciate its stunt performers and their incredible work. From making a seamless transition from Gosling to a stunt performer in action scenes to breaking world records, the long list of stunt performers deserve nothing more than the highest of praise.
And yes, you read that right, they did in fact break a world record. Before The Fall Guy’s release, the previous world record for The Cannon Roll was seven rolls going downhill. The stunt team managed to break the record on a flat surface comprised of soft sand with eight and a half rolls.
Stunt work is the main focus behind the scenes of The Fall Guy, but the movie also serves as a tribute to all of film with countless references to movies with phenomenal stunts and cameos on par with those found in Bullet Train.
When watching The Fall Guy, you may find yourself feeling as if you were reliving an action-packed romance from the ‘80s. That’s because you technically are. The film is based on a TV series of the same name that ran from 1981 to 1986 with Lee Majors and Heather Thomas as lead actors.
The film takes so much inspiration from the show to even use the same names for their main characters. Taking it a step further, the song heard during the credits of the film is a cover of “Unknown Stuntman,” the main theme of the TV show, sung by Blake Shelton.
The Fall Guy is a movie made for almost every audience with a deep and passionate celebration of the stunt community and its ‘80s predecessor. The film is near perfect as everything is expertly and deliberately planned, save for breaking a world record, but does fall a tad short with a predictable twist and campy dialogue.
The Fall Guy — ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
P.S. Exiting the theater, I was left with a newfound sense of respect for the stunt community and a desire for The Academy to add a category for stunts to the Oscars. I hope this movie will nudge them to give the stunt community the recognition they deserve.
Release Date: May 3, 2024
Director: David Leitch
Runtime: 2hr 6m
Rating: PG-13