Ryan Gosling Leads Perfect Action Movie

Here’s the thing: Even the needle drops in The Fall Guy are good. The songs are well-chosen, with just a touch of randomness (never thought I’d hear The Darkness’ “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” or Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds” used for a high-octane action sequence). And they’re not short excerpts — they’re a substantial part of the film, as important to the action as any other component on screen.

That’s just one example of the craft and care put into David Leitch’s new film, inspired by the 1980s drama about a stuntman/bounty hunter. (Hey, in Hollywood, it’s always good to diversify your income.) In 2024, the titular guy is played by Ryan Gosling, which in 2024 is already a good sign — beyond The Gray Man, his choices in recent projects have all been exciting ones, and The Fall Guy continues that trend while also delivering the platonic ideal of a popcorn flick.

For instead of joining the ranks of terrible and/or forgettable film adaptations of classic TV shows (remember 2017’s CHiPs? It’s good that you don’t), The Fall Guy belongs to a more exclusive strata occupied by The Addams Family and 21 Jump Street. Which is to say, it stands out because the filmmakers behind the scenes have brought real personal passion to the story, elevating the overall production to something that feels truly special.

The film begins with Colt Seavers (Gosling) on top of the world — he loves his job as a stuntman for movie star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and he’s got a very cute thing going on with Jody (Emily Blunt), a camera operator who aspires to become a director. When a stunt goes catastrophically wrong, though, Colt drops out of the business and cuts Jody off, licking his wounds for 18 months — until Tom’s freight train of a producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) convinces him to come back to work on Jody’s directorial debut.

Turns out Gail has an ulterior motive — Tom’s gone AWOL and she needs Colt to track him down using whatever sort of stunt guy savvy he can muster. Colt, desperate to get back on a pissed-off Jody’s good side, agrees. The resulting search leads to Colt taking a lot of real life damage, while he and Jody get close to rekindling what they had before.

It takes a bit of time for all that plot to rev into gear, because Leitch spends a good chunk of the first twenty minutes or so focusing on what it’s like to make a movie: the camaraderie of on-set culture, and the surrealism of a workplace where half your co-workers are wearing rubber alien suits, and your job is to get repeatedly set on fire.

The Fall Guy (Universal)