The Fall Guy is a mixed bag of ideas and execution, but the overall experience of seeing the movie is worth considering because of the sheer star power at play – notably Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. The film is humming best as it moves along, thanks to lengthened action sequences where director David Leitch squeezes every ounce of juice from the movie.
David Leitch’s latest movie The Fall Guy walks and talks like a natural successor to Bullet Train – in that it both spotlights a few of the most charismatic individuals currently working in Hollywood, while also crumbling under the weight of its own concept. Because as much as The Fall Guy wants to be a genuine ode to stuntmen and women across the industry, it rarely becomes more than that the same way Leitch’s previous works struggled to generate vigor.
And that’s not to say that most of the cast and crew aren’t doing their best. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt star as the flirtatious couple Colt and Jody on the set of a science fiction/western hybrid movie called Metalstorm – which is portrayed to feel as ill-conceived as it sounds – until the lead actor Tom Ryder (sporadically played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the lone holdover in the cast of Bullet Train) goes missing, causing a string of brawls, car chases, and doomed attempts to return the set back to normal.
Which you’d understandably expect The Fall Guy to execute on nicely. Gosling and Blunt feel perfect for a romp like this, yet the script doesn’t inject enough pointed energy to feel moving. It’s honestly quite random in its delivery, and lacking the comedic chops to back it up. Ryan Gosling is taking heat-check after heat-check here, and while it’ll make up for so many of the story’s pitfalls, the movie echoes many of David Leitch’s strengths and weaknesses as a director.
Because the stunts in here are absolutely ludicrous. The Fall Guy is humming best as it moves along, thanks to lengthened action sequences where Leitch squeezes every ounce of juice from the film. Gosling is a great team player for taking the beating he does here, weathering the effects of flying through windows and taking elbows to his face and torso – and getting hit by moving vehicles on numerous occasions.
It’s a mixed bag of ideas and execution, but the overall experience of seeing The Fall Guy is worth considering because of the sheer star power at play. Two recent Oscar nominees are front-and-center with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, and the potential future James Bond (if you subscribe to the latest rumors surrounding Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is commanding the screen whenever he’s given time to cook. I just hope David Leitch can graduate from the school of middling action films in the coming future.
Rating: 5/10
The Fall Guy (2024)
- Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke, Stephanie Hsu
- Director: David Leitch
- Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
- Runtime: 127 minutes
- Rated: PG-13
- Release Date: May 3, 2024
More Movies Starring Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling has starred in the following movies:
- Blue Valentine (2010)
- Drive (2011)
- The Big Short (2015)
- La La Land (2016)
- The Nice Guys (2016)
- Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
- First Man (2018)
- The Gray Man (2022)
- Barbie (2023)
- The Fall Guy (2024)
More Movies Starring Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt has starred in the following movies:
- Looper (2012)
- Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
- Sicario (2015)
- A Quiet Place (2018)
- A Quiet Place: Part II (2020)
- Oppenheimer (2023)
- IF (2024)
- The Fall Guy (2024)
More Movies Directed by David Leitch
David Leitch has directed the following movies:
- Atomic Blonde (2017)
- Deadpool 2 (2018)
- Bullet Train (2022)
- The Fall Guy (2024)
