
Apart from the movie “Barbie,” one can say that these days, the blockbuster movie market has become quite serious. Take “Dune” or “Avatar: The Way Of Water” the expansive lore and world-building are as great as the ever-connected universe of the MCU—ewww, let’s not forget the blockbuster side of things, making films lately feels like a second job too. Now, to be fair, some of those films are great for ‘artistic’ reasons, and yet the real razzle-dazzle of a production over-stimulated by true entertainment has become a rarity. It’s a movie where you shouldn’t have to take notes or see the previous installments. It’s a challenge as a viewer. It wants to show how two crazily charming actors, in such a love-hate topology, how chaos creates star power. If only the annoying artificiality did not become too much. However, it wishes to show the audience what it was like to watch an impact layer beyond the CGI dom an era. Quite the contrary. But rather, it aims to get you filled with a riveting foreign and chaotic sentiment. A brilliant one let me tell you. The movie stretches embracing a very good strain of entertainment and ‘ideas’ the fascinating aspect of the era being patience for the movie to end.
David Leitch began as a stunt performer in major films, switching from Brad Pitt to Jean-Claude Van Damme and to Matt Damon, and so on. Then he moved on to directing starting with a small project called “John Wick” which set him up for films like “Atomic Blonde” or “Bullet Train”. In reference to the Lee Majors-inspired TV show, the film’s plot revolves around a Hollywood stuntman who is a bounty hunter, the same concept used in ‘The Fall Guy’ simply retitled. There is little narrative DNA shared with the show aside from the profession and the name, but of course the 2024 “The Fall Guy” has the general tone of ‘80s television as it tries to incorporate some humor, romance, mystery, and action – all while name-dropping action stars who helped create the ‘this-is-my-style’ atmosphere.
There’s a specific magnetism to Ryan Gosling as the new Colt Seavers that is reminiscent of his career’s highlight in films such as “The Nice Guys”, but he also has some intensity and crafted precision within some delivery parts that should make you think about how classic he was in “Drive.” While it is fair to say that “The Fall Guy” has plenty of killing glamor and scoop and dazzle about the people who are celluloid behind the cameras, how is it more a tribute to an obstinate style, an epoch of cinema where a star could be so engaging that the audience would suspend disbelief no matter how slow the plot thickened? For the most part, there has definitely been a transition from linear storytelling and character development into plots and original ideas but Gus Leitch and the production of ‘The Fall Guy’ transport us to the when the hot half and half Reynolds was more than enough. Gosling has that kind of affable style that is necessary in Hollywood. A fellow who was next to me at a bar at SXSW viewing the Oscar event when Gosling was performing, ‘I’m just Ken’ remarked, ‘I am getting really tired of how this guy makes it look so easy.’ The Fall Guy vindicates once more the last five words of that assertion as factual.
Colt is explained in the film world as the double of a diva actor in Tom Ryder played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson perfectly mixing Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt and Matthew McConaughey in quite a way to feel right without trying to be any one actor. After an unfortunate fall, Colt is out for 18 months, leaving behind his girlfriend Jodie played by Emily Blunt, and perhaps, the business for good. When Jodie’s producer Gail Waddingham comes to Colt and begs him to double Ryder once again on the sets of Jodie’s first film, Colt relents. The first act in the case of ‘The Fall Guy’ depicts Jodie as quarreling with Colt for trying to escape from the relationship after his injuries in an interesting scene in front of several cast and crew members it seems as if a film set offers no privacy then the handsome screenplay by Drew Pearce makes a switch to mystery and action as Ryder becomes unaccounted for. The star cast also boasts of talented actors such as Winston Duke, Stephanie Hsu, Teresa Palmer, and a French-speaking action pet.
In contrast, more needle drops from the era of the show such as the very recognizable riff of “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” that KISS uses frequently throughout the show, appear as a tribute to the original series’ time period and to the period in Hollywood when they produced many action from coms akin to this.
In “The Fall Guy”, we witness that stuntmen put their lives on the line, barely escape danger, and cross their fingers for a sweet thumbs-up that they’re still in one piece. They are the people who are never acknowledged yet have contributed so much in making classic films what they are in the minds of the audience. It goes without saying that “The Fall Guy” must have some jaw-dropping stunts including a world record for the most cannon rolls, an astonishing fight inside a whirling dumpster, and several gigantic vehicle leaps. Leitch and his team manage to blend action, characters, and comedy well but it has to be said that Blunt sort of disappears in the later stages of the film which is a bummer after the two seem so wonderful together early in the film. Hsu also seems to be a little miscast, though Waddingham and Duke have some fun, especially the latter who is here to remind people that he can do a little bit of everything.
Designed with a core message that should resonate with everyone concerned with the ugliness of AI and Deepfakes “The Fall Guy” comes across as a retaliation against the death of characters and comedy in all CGI-filled blockbusters churned from content factories over the past few years. It’s striving to cater to its cinema viewers with what most of the time seems to be the last priority in big-budget movies: enjoyment, albeit some of its detractors may say with too much fervor.
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