after a month of waiting with bated breath, i FINALLY got around to watching the fall guy (2024), and OH MY GOD.
spoilers!
“I LOVE MOVIES” is truly the only thing i could think while watching this movie. well, that and “I LOVE RYAN GOSLING.”
this is the second david leitch movie i’ve seen (the first being the very underrated imo bullet train (2022)), and the fall guy totally bumped him up on my “favorite directors” ranking. the movie is action-packed, quippy as hell, and you can feel the joy that went into making it.
this is a movie that you have to see in theaters, because it just totally enhances the experience. directed by a former stuntman, the fall guy is a total love letter to stunts, and it couldn’t have come at a better time when moviegoers are campaigning award shows to recognize the stunt performers who carry movies on their back.
the fall guy is a movie about movies, made by a guy who absolutely loves movies.
with an aaron taylor-johnson matthew mcconaughey impression and mini-dune parody, the fall guy is an incredibly meta look into making movies. and really, should i have been surprised by colt (ryan gosling)’s narration fourth-wall breaks when leitch was the same guy who directed deadpool 2 (2018)? but i really think this movie shines in its details. easily one of the best scenes in the whole movie is a split-screened phone call between colt and jody (emily blunt) ABOUT THE USAGE OF SPLIT SCREEN IN THE MOVIE THEY’RE MAKING. david leitch your mind is amazing and i love you <3.
i’ll briefly talk about the stunts, cause that’s kind of what this whole movie was about. if the rest of this long ass thing doesn’t convince you to consider watching the fall guy, maybe it’s WORLD RECORD BREAKING CANNON ROLL will. and while bloopers play during the credits1, the fall guy reminds you that yes, all of these stunts were real, as you watch a camera track ryan gosling (or maybe his stuntman) REALLY fighting that guy in a truck.
but the fall guy shines in its leading man and lady: ryan gosling (who’s literally me, btw) and emily blunt. both of them are so charismatic on their own, and together, their chemistry is explosive. i think gosling should take on more dumb malewife himbo-esque roles, because he seems to do so well in them, and some of the true comedy in the movie comes from blunt’s role as a minimal-nonsense director. maybe i’m biased because i love ryan gosling (i definitely am…) but this whole movie is just a great premise heightened by even better acting.
i’ve seen some online say that the role seems like it was written for the other hollywood ryan, but i disagree, because i don’t think reynolds could have played this the way gosling did. there’s a certain attempted coolness masking deep loser-ness that gosling always leans into in his roles, from ken to holland march (justice for the nice guys (2016), btw).
the whole cast in general is pretty stacked. hannah waddingham is weirdly good as an evil lady, winston duke is awesome as a movie-referencing “best friend” (has he ever starred in something? i feel like i only see him in side character roles), and was someone going to tell me stephanie hsu was in it or did i have to find out from the opening titles?
and SPEAKING OF THE TITLES. my goodness. that was truly one of the highlights of this movie, and it once again proves how meticulously thought out this whole thing was. having the opening titles for a movie about movies BE IN A SCREENPLAY FORMAT??? i almost sh*t myself out of excitement in the theater.
with all that being said, the fall guy isn’t perfect. my two hesitations about this movie is that the editing felt a little weird in parts (nothing that totally made me hate the movie, just a few weird cuts here and there), and they used kiss’s “i was made for loving you” way too much. like they were really just trying to milk every second of it. from instrumentals to a yungblud cover, it was just a lot. like too much.
final review? 4.5 stars. this is the greatest movie ever. i should rewatch bullet train.
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a truly underrated thing that i’m really glad we’re seeing more of! movies are back.
