The Fall Guy reminiscent of 80s action-comedy blockbusters

Film review: The Fall Guy (12A)

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt and Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Director: David Leitch Run time: Two hours, six minutes

The Fall Guy is very reminiscent of many action-comedy blockbusters that filled the 80s, while taking somewhat of an interesting spin by making the main character a stunt man as he gets pulled into finding a missing movie star during his ex-girlfriend’s (Emily Blunt) directorial debut.

Proving to be quite a visual treat, the movie has many interesting shots including its opening long take as we see Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) preparing to perform a stunt, as well as many well shot and paced action sequences.

The soundtrack is also fun, featuring remixes of KISS’ ‘I Was Made for Loving You’ which is used regularly alongside Gosling’s character.

Where this movie falls short is in its pacing, as the acts feel very segregated. The first act mostly focuses on Colt and Jody’s (Emily Blunt) relationship in filming together.

While Gosling and Blunt do have admittedly great chemistry and the script is filled with many jokes, this idea probably takes up around half of the movie's two-hour run time and as a result, makes it feel like it takes a very long time to get going.

Although once the movie gets rolling into its second and third acts, it proves to be a lot more enjoyable as we watch Colt balance his movie career while tracking the movie star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) in a series of great action sequences filled with plenty of laughs.

In the end, I don’t think the film has much to say but as a Hollywood blockbuster for some light fun, it succeeds even if it is dragged down by an admittedly slow start.

By Alfie Ransome

Rating: 6/10