‘The Fall Guy’ Review: The Most Fun You’ll Have at the Movies This Year

David Leitch, first with Bullet Train and now with The Fall Guy, has become everything Matthew Vaughn was supposed to be post-Kingsman. He’s developed a look and feel known only to him, trademarked by razor-sharp needle drops and underlined by superstar talent. Leitch’s taste for momentous action suits The Fall Guy perfectly, and taken with a hearty dose of flawless chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, as well as his most insatiable use of humor yet, the film is easily his best.

Not only is it Leitch’s best, but it’s simply one of the best movies to come out this year. The Fall Guy is the unadulterated essence of the blockbuster in concept; a rip-roaring ride made specifically for the big screen, engraved with a love for movies and oozing with passion from every department. The film, following a stuntman’s unbelievable journey to redeem his love life and search for a lost movie star (for which he doubles), is as much a love-letter to movies as any movie could be. It’s a movie within a movie, and at times, another movie within that paradox. The Fall Guy is all about movies, and the love for the craft shines through.

Beyond Leitch’s profound cinematic vision, the already noted Gosling and Blunt lead-duo are good on an otherworldly level. Gosling has hit his stride on the comedic front, specializing in physical deliveries and classic “cool guy” mantras and mannerisms. But after Barbie last year, and The Nice Guys before that, you knew what he was capable of already; an expected high point.

Blunt is the real surprise in that regard. She’s astoundingly funny in the exact opposite way that Gosling is; almost all of her jokes are overlong, dry, and perfectly paced antidotes to Gosling’s one-line, bit-based gags. The two share a great portion of the film together, and their comedic tendencies clash in the best way possible. 

Even when it isn’t focused on the two of them, The Fall Guy thrives on clever jabs from various outlets that patch together the absence of either protagonist; much of the best stuff here is in the details, things that wrap around long after they’re set up, and it all goes to show the serious level of effort put into ensuring successful laughs.

The Fall Guy has everything anyone could ever need to necessitate a night out at the movies

Much of the action, which is superb on the technical front, is plated for laughs, too. Leitch has a way of stringing momentum between two completely different scenes, much of which comes down to the edit. A breakneck sequence of high-flying, life-threatening acrobatics is cut seamlessly with a conversation on the rocks. The two develop alongside one another whilst also feeding into each other. The conversation raises the stakes of the action, and vice versa. 

The edit on the whole here is occasionally a little choppy, but this aspect alone more than makes up for the little hitches here and there. All of this overlaid with Dominic Lewis’ score, one that is either blaring pump-up rock to the flurried pace of punches, or his lack thereof allowing scenes to fill themselves with their own sound, and you’ve got a near-perfect package in mainstream entertainment. 

It’s a deeply comforting feeling to go to a movie that feels like it speaks directly to the experience, and The Fall Guy is exactly that. The film is reassuring in an age of worry about the future of cinema. If filmmakers, namely David Leitch, are making movies like this, they’re not going anywhere, anytime soon. The Fall Guy has everything anyone could ever need to necessitate a night out at the movies, and a whole laundry list of things that sound so ridiculous that you wouldn’t believe they’re actually in the movie unless you saw it. We won’t spoil those things for you but, by all means, get to the theater and see The Fall Guy. A perfect excuse to buy a big tub of popcorn and forget the world exists for a few hours, it’s everything that a blockbuster should be, plus Ryan Gosling in a Miami Vice bomber jacket. ‘Nuff said.

The Fall Guy will be in theaters worldwide from May 2.

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