I love Ryan Gosling. I love Emily Blunt. I love David Leitch action movies. I love movies about the making of movies. So as you can imagine I was very, very excited for The Fall Guy and it basically gave me everything I wanted but also a lot that I wasn't expecting to get out of it also.
This film, from top to bottom, is a love letter to films and the people who make them. As someone who has an active interest in filmmaking I really appreciated that this took the time to reference all the below-the-line jobs in the production process that don't gain as much mainstream attention. Obviously the stunt doubles but also the camera operators and the sound technicians, just to name a couple. Basically the positions that aren't as sexy as all the roles in front of the camera and I really loved how Leitch made the effort to pay tribute to these positions but also how he incorporated them into the plot seamlessly. This whole thing is a massive love letter to filmmaking and as a result I just had the stupidest grin on my face from beginning to end.
But even putting all that aside, this has also got to be one of the most purely entertaining films I've seen in a long while. It's David Leitch so all the action set pieces are phenomenally well realised with a minimal amount of CGI but the story's also a lot stronger than I expected it to be. It's nothing revolutionary but it did keep the whole thing moving at a good pace and these central character are really what kept me as interested as I did. I truly believe Ryan Gosling can do no wrong and he's basically perfect in this. He's totally believable in all the action scenes and if you loved him in Barbie and The Nice Guys this performance is very much in the same league. Emily Blunt and him make a perfect pair and all the biggest laughs come from their interactions. I do think the script overplayed the humour a bit too often though. It's almost like Leitch and the writer didn't trust us and the audience to get the jokes so they kept dragging out the humour out to the point where it felt like they were saying; "do you get it?, you get it right?" and it did become frustrating for me after a while.
As I said, I love the fact that this whole movie pays tribute to the filmmakers at every level and that's no more apparent than in the third act. Rather than end the film on a generic set piece they made the filming process a part of the plot and I got a massive kick out of seeing pure filmmaking as a means of thwarting the bad guys plan. But I do think the road to that third act is a bit clunky. It felt like the film was ramping up to its climax only to stop and set up what ended up being the real ending. I ultimately loved where it went but it but I wish the road to that third act was a bit smoother.
Look, if you just want to watch The Fall Guy as a purely entertaining action movie this will tick all the boxes and then some. But if this opens even one casual moviegoer's eye to all the work that goes into the filmmaking process this entire film will have been worth it. I loved how this film paid tribute to the stunt performers and crews behind movies and all the while delivering a kick-ass action experience. I already can't wait to see it again and, in terms of pure entertainment, this is the most fun I've had with a movie all year.
This film, from top to bottom, is a love letter to films and the people who make them. As someone who has an active interest in filmmaking I really appreciated that this took the time to reference all the below-the-line jobs in the production process that don't gain as much mainstream attention. Obviously the stunt doubles but also the camera operators and the sound technicians, just to name a couple. Basically the positions that aren't as sexy as all the roles in front of the camera and I really loved how Leitch made the effort to pay tribute to these positions but also how he incorporated them into the plot seamlessly. This whole thing is a massive love letter to filmmaking and as a result I just had the stupidest grin on my face from beginning to end.
But even putting all that aside, this has also got to be one of the most purely entertaining films I've seen in a long while. It's David Leitch so all the action set pieces are phenomenally well realised with a minimal amount of CGI but the story's also a lot stronger than I expected it to be. It's nothing revolutionary but it did keep the whole thing moving at a good pace and these central character are really what kept me as interested as I did. I truly believe Ryan Gosling can do no wrong and he's basically perfect in this. He's totally believable in all the action scenes and if you loved him in Barbie and The Nice Guys this performance is very much in the same league. Emily Blunt and him make a perfect pair and all the biggest laughs come from their interactions. I do think the script overplayed the humour a bit too often though. It's almost like Leitch and the writer didn't trust us and the audience to get the jokes so they kept dragging out the humour out to the point where it felt like they were saying; "do you get it?, you get it right?" and it did become frustrating for me after a while.
As I said, I love the fact that this whole movie pays tribute to the filmmakers at every level and that's no more apparent than in the third act. Rather than end the film on a generic set piece they made the filming process a part of the plot and I got a massive kick out of seeing pure filmmaking as a means of thwarting the bad guys plan. But I do think the road to that third act is a bit clunky. It felt like the film was ramping up to its climax only to stop and set up what ended up being the real ending. I ultimately loved where it went but it but I wish the road to that third act was a bit smoother.
Look, if you just want to watch The Fall Guy as a purely entertaining action movie this will tick all the boxes and then some. But if this opens even one casual moviegoer's eye to all the work that goes into the filmmaking process this entire film will have been worth it. I loved how this film paid tribute to the stunt performers and crews behind movies and all the while delivering a kick-ass action experience. I already can't wait to see it again and, in terms of pure entertainment, this is the most fun I've had with a movie all year.