The Fall Guy

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have recently announced that an Oscar for Best Casting will be a thing a few years from now. I bring this up because the Academy has yet to acknowledge Stunt Coordinators with their own Oscar category. Isn't it about time someone acknowledged those who arrange all the dangerous stuff normal actors can't do?

David Leitch - himself a former stuntman - pays homage to his former profession with The Fall Guy, the film version of that one show Lee Majors did after The Six-Million Dollar Man. It opens with a homage of contemporary movie stunts - including a bit from Leitch's own Atomic Blonde - before it introduces us to stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling). He frequently doubles for superstar Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) while he carries on a professional - and personal - relationship with camerawoman Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). It's a good life until Colt's latest stunt sends him falling with the camera to ground level. 

A year later, Colt is in the doldrums until Tom's producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) calls. He's wanted on the set for Tom's latest film, Metalstorm, a space western which marks none other than Jody's directorial debut. Colt will do anything for love, even come out of retirement, and he does. But Jody didn't want him on the set; she's still mad at him for leaving her. She's forced to make do with him anyway. Meanwhile, Ryder himself is missing, and it's up to Colt to find him for reasons. Things get even more difficult when someone sets up Colt for murder. A fall guy becomes The Fall Guy, so to speak.

This is a complicated, yet simplistic movie. It's a film where Colt and Jody mirror each other in an impressive split screen shot, where Colt fights and later has a casual talk with co-star and henchwoman Iggy (Teresa Palmer), and where Colt starts seeing unicorns during a trip. The villains employ digital trickery to frame Colt, a scary prospect for real actors worried about their likenesses being stolen. Their frameup, however, would easily collapse upon scrutiny, and the only reason it doesn't here is that a few characters are idiots (not naming names). They're not the deepest characters around, but they're still likable, even the villains to an extent. Colt and Jody are especially likable together and they have a few great supporting characters with them. A few highlights include Alma (Stephanie Hsu), the PA who exonerates Colt; stunt-coordinator Dan Tucker (Winston Duke); and Jean-Claude the Blue Heeler. It's unfortunately easy to lose track of them when the film overexplains itself.

There's quite a bit to like about this film. Colt's first stunt on Metalstorm actually set a real Guiness Record, and you'll know why when you see it. Colt later endures repeated takes of him getting set on fire and slammed against a rock in an absurdly long and weirdly amusing scene. The action scenes are delightfully silly, but none more so than Colt literally dumpster surfing across Sydney to save Alma from goons, while Jody sings Phil Collins's Against All Odds at Karaoke. The climax, where the Metalstorm crew helps Colt and Jody stop the villains, is simply awesome. The end credits show us the action being filmed live, but the digital effects they still used are pretty good. I especially liked the "finalized" Metalstorm scenes we see during filming.

The Academy may not recognize stunt coordinators, but let's hope they consider editor Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir's work. The Fall Guy's plot maybe complicatedly daft, but the action scenes she puts together are unforgettable. It's not only worth seeing them on the big screen, but it's worth hearing other audience members' reactions to its silliest gags. There's plenty of memorable laughs during its 126-minutes; stay through the credits for a really big one. I'm a bit curious to watch an episode or two of the show after I've spent my whole life without knowing of it. Maybe you might too.