The Fall Guy

The summer movie season is here again! For almost 20 years a Marvel movie would be the first offering out of the gate, but thanks to the writers and SAG-AFTRA strike last year a comic book adaptation is not how we are going to start. Instead, we are seeing an old television show get the big screen treatment, “The Fall Guy.” Whether you are familiar with the Lee Majors vehicle or not, it does not matter. This features two of Hollywood’s hottest actors, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. It’s the perfect start to the summer movie season! 

Colt Seavers (Gosling) is a stunt man at the top of his game. He is the #1 double for the #1 action star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). However, an on-set accident derides it all. A year and a half later, Colt is parking cars for a living. That is until he gets a call from Ryder’s producer who wants him to stunt double for her client again on his next big movie, which is also being directed by his former girlfriend, Jody Moreno (Blunt). When he arrives, things go more than awry when Ryder goes missing and there may be more going on than Colt signed up for. 

“The Fall Guy” has a mix 0f so many genres, from action to comedy and even romance. A great date night movie, for sure. Also, since this a story about a stunt man, every single kind of stunt you can dream up they do. A car roll, fire stunt, fight scenes, car jumps and sometimes they bleed into one another. One huge action piece is done to the Phil Collins song Against All Odds. A great mix of comedy and action since that is not the type of song you would think to accompany an action scene. 

If “The Fall Guy” has a flaw, it’s that it takes a while to find its footing. Once it gets going then it goes at full speed. Director David Leitch is well versed in the action genre and working comedy into the picture too having directed “Bullet Train” starring Brad Pitt and “Deadpool 2” starring Ryan Reynolds. He even works in good character development, which is sometimes a missing element in action pictures. 

It’s too soon to know how this flock of summer movies will do in 2024. A slew of sequels is on the horizon, but a share of original content is coming our way too. Whether this will be a stellar season is yet to be written but at least “The Fall Guy” gets us off to a strong, entertaining start. 

3.5 Swords