Stunts & Cast Elevate a Mediocre Movie

(071124) Despite mostly positive reviews, The Fall Guy is a just a passable romantic action thriller that is a loose remake of a of a very shallow and forgettable TV series from the late 70s to early 80s. The Lee Majors led TV series is in syndicated reruns on some stations is really not worth bothering with. The film builds on the premise and is a definite improvement. I might have liked this film more if I did not see it right after I Saw the TV Glow which is one of the most creative, original, and important films of the year about watching TV. In this year of cinematic remakes, reboots, and sequels (including new Planet of the Apes, Beetlejuice, Mad Max, Ghost Busters, Deadpool and Godzilla), the viewer’s time and money would usually be better spent on an actual original piece of cinematic art.

The film's title has a double meaning because the main character Colt Seavers is a stunt man who often falls for a living and coincidentally he might also have to take the fall for a crime he did not commit. Beyond building on the premise, the other strong point in the film is the cast. Oscar contenders Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are both far superior to the original show’s cast. Not to pile on Lee Majors but he was a serviceable television talent in his day but seems to have become a better actor later in life (see recent Evil Dead streaming series). He also  has an amusing cameo appearance in the film. The movie also has some handsome locations, but this still only elevates the movie to a mid-level James Bond film. The dialogue never pops and it’s all sort of predictable.

The film contains a so-so love story that is often surrounded by some inventive stunt scenes. Like the last John Wick film, the story is basically just an excuse to justify some decent action sequences. The best stunt scene is when is when the protagonist Colt steers a fast boat with his legs while his arms are bound while he is being shot at by the crooks. Tech junkies might be interested that the film is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most cannon rolls performed in a car. A cannon roll is when the camera like apparatus is placed beneath a car in order to take shots from the ground.

Colt well played by Ryan Gosling from Barbie, is a professional stunt man (or is that stunt person?) who replaces his friend, the popular actor, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor Johnson from Bullet Train and The Kings’ Men). Ryder is immensely popular but is glib, crooked and conceited, and he sees Colt as a disposable inferior. In contrast Colt is heroic and courageous and does not mind risking his life falling off of tall buildings or driving a car that flips over. The actor he subs for respects his skill and calls him the best.

During the shooting of his previous film, Colt had been romancing an assistant director, Jody played with great charm by Emily Blunt from Oppenheimer. Their relationship was interrupted when he got into a serious accident, causing him to reevaluate his life and deciding he wanted no part in film-making anymore. Rather than continuing to risk his life he takes a demeaning car parking job. Also he breaks off contact with his almost perfect girlfriend, Jody who understandably resents him for it. A year and a half later he's asked by a producer to return to make a film but he would have to work with his ex who has been hired as the director. He agrees, hoping he can rekindle the romantic flame between them. But he gets involved in a murder mystery and it becomes clear that someone in the film wants to either kill him or frame him. He picks up his relationship with Jody but it becomes increasingly unlikely that he may not survive long enough to have a happy ending with her.

Another interesting part of the film is that, like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the film captures an important transitional period in cinema. The Tarantino film showed that the older 50s style actors were eventually replaced by a new breed of younger hipper and more diverse actors like Bruce Lee (or Pam Grier.) Here The Fall Guy hints that with the advent of AI and increasingly sophisticated digital manipulation the need for stunt men or women might be over, So both films lament the passing of an era and possibly a more honest, simple kind of film making.

Several films this year (including Challengers and I Saw the TV Glow) have had excellent soundtracks, unfortunately this film has an abysmal one. It is clear that no one who worked on this film has a decent taste in music. Some of the musical low points in the film include an instantly forgettable Taylor Swift song, a karaoke version of Phil Collin’s insufferably weepy  “Against All Odds" and Kiss’s lukewarm and generic power ballad, “I Was Made for Loving You.“

While this film is not terrible it qualifies neither as cinematic fine art (like The Seventh Seal or Ran) or great trash (like Rock n Roll High School or Faster Pussycat Kill Kill). The talent does what it can to make the film better. But even if Orson Wells himself collaborated with Ingrid Bergman and Marlon Brando with Bernard Hermann doing the music, they could not make a great film out of The Fall Guy.