The Fall Guy (2024), directed by David Leitch, stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke, Ben Knight, Teresa Palmer, and Stephanie Hsu. The film follows Colt Seavers (Gosling), a Hollywood stuntman who develops a steamy romance with a cinematographer named Jody (Blunt). After a stunt goes horribly wrong, Colt falls into a depression and ends up ghosting Jody.  Eighteen months later, Colt is working a dead-end valet job until he gets an offer from his agent (Waddingham) to work on Jody’s directorial debut. After the film’s star Tom Ryder (Taylor-Johnson) goes missing, Colt sees it as an opportunity to save the production and win back the girl of his dreams. What initially appears as a typical missing persons case eventually evolves into a dangerous conspiracy with Colt at its center. As things go from bad to worse, Colt must ask himself how far he will go for the one he loves. 

Gosling and Blunt carry the film partly due to their irresistible chemistry. There’s a certain free-flowing banter between the two that’s surprisingly compelling. Yes, there’s a feeling of imperfect awkwardness to the dialogue, but it provides a feeling of authenticity as opposed to pure cringe. The relationship is a bit dorky, but there’s a certain sweetness that cuts through. Most importantly, by the film’s third act, we desperately want to see these two reconcile their relationship. In other words, we actually care about the outcome. 

Where this film blows other action films out of the water is its use of practical effects. The film is an ode to the stuntmen of Hollywood and is dedicated to applying their skills in the most authentic way possible. We are made aware through Colt how dangerous these stunts are, making their implementation in the film in a non-meta sense that much more exciting. The film is surprisingly and seamlessly meta. It’s not the draw of the film, but it’s a cherry on top that I appreciated.

The film also finds interesting ways of subverting the typical action movie formula. The first half is a bit slow and spends significant time building the characters and their relationships. Yes, it’s slower than most films in the genre but remains entertaining due to its’ wonderfully entertaining characters. Likewise, the film leads to a climax that is a bit convoluted yet refreshingly original. Even the motivations of characters are unique, villain or otherwise. It’s a huge breath of fresh air to move away from typical action movie motivations such as revenge or world domination. 

Where the film stumbles a bit is that it’s so dedicated to being a love letter to stuntmen that it goes a bit too far. By the end of the film, it basically claims that stuntmen are akin to real-life superheroes. Yes, stuntmen are cool, but they’re not other-worldly superhumans. The film sacrifices its somewhat grounded nature right when it shouldn’t. I really didn’t need the stuntman equivalent of the “Avengers Assemble!” moment.

Overall, this is one of the most original and fun action films I’ve seen in a long time. After Atomic Blonde (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Hobbs & Shaw (2019), Bullet Train (2022), and now The Fall Guy (2024), David Leitch is proving himself to be one of the best action directors working in Hollywood today. This film isn’t perfect and does feature a few pacing and comedy issues, but the overall effect is one of pure enjoyment. Not every choice works, but I can’t think of a better option to kick off the summer movie season. B