A love letter to all stunt performers in the movie business comes from The Fall Guy. Directed by David Leitch, former stunt man, best known for directing Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train.

 

Our main character Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is the stunt double for one of the most popular actors on the planet, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). At the beginning of the film we are introduced to Colt’s love interest, cinematographer Jody Moreno (Emily Bunt), who Colt is working together on a film. That’s when one of the stunts he attempts goes horribly wrong taking him out of the stunt game for a year. Then he gets a phone call from producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) to come out of retirement because they need an experienced stunt guy for a new film that happens to be Jody’s directorial debut. It’s been almost a year since the incident and Colt has not reconnected with Jody. This makes it awkward when he shows up and finds out that she did not want him to be in her film. As Colt tries to rekindle his relationship with Jody, Gail tasks him with finding the lead actor Ryder because he has gone missing. What seems to be a simple task turns out to be a deadly mission and he will have to use his stunt man skills to survive. As the mystery of Ryder’s disappearance unfolds, all the puzzle pieces start connecting. This ends up giving the title of the film two different meanings.

 

We have finally reached our first Summer Blockbuster of the year with a fun, comedic, action-packed film that has a lot of heart. Leitch did a great job of both showing how important stunt men are in the film industry and creating a story that lets you relate to the main character. Even though the story is a bit bonkers and is somewhat unrealistic it makes for a great time. The action and stunt sequences were shot so well that it was smooth like butter. Gosling and Blunt’s relationship was very genuine and not cheesy. There was heart and passion between these two characters, and that made their relationship believable. Some sequences did use CGI which wasn’t as polished, but I’ll give it a pass because I really did have a lot of fun watching this film. Other than that, it’s hard for me to pinpoint any specific issues I had with the plot, acting, or special effects.

 

If you want to start your Summer off with a fun and explosive film, make sure you head to theaters to see The Fall Guy. It is the perfect film for action, romantic, and comedy junkies.

 

Rating: 4 out 5