The Fall Guy
Sometimes a remake is more than a remake...
Like most of Gen X, my emotional range is limited to my catalogue of film references. Granted, if you know me personally, you know that I am a walking, talking, movie encyclopedia. Well, at least I used to be.
On a fairly high level you could separate movies into two large “buckets:” those that make you feel, make you think, make you change your perspective or yourself and those that simply entertain you. The latter type is notorious for memorable quotes, from classics like “We’ll always have Paris” to the:
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the
Inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men
Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will
shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness
for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious
Anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers
And you will know
My name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee
Another well known cliche is that many movies of the latter type, love adding easter eggs for the fans to find and enjoy. I bring all of this up because recently, I watched David Leitch’s The Fall Guy, which included the following two (out of many more) easter eggs:
One of the post-it notes in Tom Ryder's apartment says "Pirate Download Bullet Train." Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays Ryder, was one of the main characters in Bullet Train, which was also directed by, you guessed it David Leitch.
Another post-it note is a reminder to buy unicorn food. This note is from Tom to himself, even though it’s Colt who sees the unicorns when drugged, which simply begs the question. Another one, "Is it Momoa or Mamoa?" I am sure Tom is not the only one who struggled with it, but the in-joke is the fact that in movie within the movie, Jason replaces Tom as the main character.
The movie quite accurately is labeled as “action,” “comedy,” “romance.” Ostensibly, the movie has plenty of all three. However, what it really is, behind the facade of an entertaining remaining of the old TV show of the same name, is an ode to an entire part of the filmmaking industry that does not receive no where near enough attention, support and most of all acknowledgement.
The modern blockbuster can be many different genres, from brooding, dark, and quite serious The Dark Knight to absolutely irreverent Deadpool; from epic 8th entry into a cliche franchise (you can pick here, there are plenty of options) to a shockingly fresh out of nowhere take on blending genres like there is no tomorrow in Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. One of the few common themes through all of the blockbusters is the hard work being performed by the stunt performers to achieve the visual perfection designed to entertain above all else and that we are all drawn to because of how well it is down (and sold).
The Fall Guy is a truly fun movie that does not take itself seriously and while it stands up to the expectations of romcoms and actioncoms and all such, it is the theme of reminding us that stunt work has always mattered, even more now in the CGI era. Colt, the protagonist in the movie, is asked whether there is an Oscar for stunts in movies, which he denies and which is true. Given that almost every other technical category has its own award at the Oscars, the Emmys, etc. I can imagine how frustrating it must be to stunt performers. Director David Leitch, a former stunt performer himself, said that he made The Fall Guy as a "love letter" to the stunt community, giving them the recognition they deserve.
The movie is a perfect ode to the stunt work and the behind the scenes look at the stunt team work during the credits perfectly encapsulated and portrayed that. Leitch started as a stunt double working on truly venerable list of films which included the Jason Bourne, Matrix, and James Bond franchises, along with classics or cult classics such as Tron, 300, Beerfest, V for Vendetta, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Serenity, Constantine, Daredevil, Ocean’s 11, Fight Club, and Blade. He doubled for Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Keanu Reeves, and many more.
His first truly big break from stunts was his collaboration with another long-time Keanu stunt-double Chad Stahelski, something called John Wick. The only official credit he received is as a producer, but if you critically compare the original JW to the rest, you’ll notice a slight difference (this is not a criticism of Stahelski or Wick sequels). His own directorial debut was with a very underappreciated Atomic Blonde, quickly followed by Deadpool 2 and then Hobbs and Shaw and Bullet Train before making the Fall Guy.
In this movie, Leitch returns to his roots, the stunt work. The Fall Guy keeps the name and the profession from the original 80s TV show but most importantly, it keeps the stereotypical charm and humor of the action protagonist - I saw a critique compare this to Burt Reynolds at his peak, perhaps a very apt comparison.
Ryan Gosling, I was this week’s old to learn that he is Canadian, has had an interesting, at times promising career, where I believe he found his perfect niche over the last few movies. If you are thinking a more All-American version of Keanu’s stoic yet a bit of a grungy-cyberpunk styled hero, you are not wrong. Gosling’s big breakthrough was a role in the 90’s TV show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys that lead to him staring in Young Hercules. I haven’t seen the latter, but somehow Gosling turned into a Hollywood darling who was casted (well more like mis-casted) in a number of critically acclaimed and successful movies: from The Notebook to Lars and the Real Girl, The Big Short, La La Land, First Man… Yet, I’ll argue that his true success came with the pivot he made with The Gray Man, Barbie and now the Fall Guy.
Since The Fall Guy is an ode to stunt work and how stunt people have to literally put their life at risk, often narrowly avoiding serious injuries, to hopefully, give a thumbs up as a sign that they are somewhat okay…ish. The thumb up sign makes cute though cliche gag through the entire movie. Gosling’s character, Colt Seavers, is just another guy who does crazy shit but never gets credit for any of it, often getting yelled for having “too much face” on camera. In a sense, Seavers is who Leitch used to be himself (though clearly Leitch’s relationship with Keanu is a whole lot better than Seaver’s and Ryder’s, but than Keanu is the ultimate nice guy.
Naturally, The Fall Guy had to have some amazingly insane stunt work, including a record-breaking cannon roll (a car rolling over and over and over, in this case eight and a half times), an incredible fight in a spinning dumpster while being driven by a truck through downtown Sydney, and a 240 foot jump at the end… Leitch finds perfect balance between romance (as cliche as it is), comedy, and action.
I have been concerned and written about AI in general, but it is also impacting our movie watching experience. CGI-heavy, AI-generated, deaged or deepfaked actors and action might look cool on the screen but it is not memorable, it is entertaining but it is not culturally significant. Leitch and Gosling push back against the narrative and the result is an ode to the people who do the literal hard work. In this movie, Chris O'Hara received credit for the position of 'stunt designer' which is believed to be the first credit of its kind. “The role of Stunt Designer is meant to acknowledge the high-level artistic contribution of the traditional stunt coordinator role, and recognize creative leadership within the stunts industry.”
We may never get to see an Oscar for the Best Stunt Performance or the Best Stunt Design, but we can and we will appreciate the hard and often times dangerous work of people that was so gloriously celebrated by Leith and Gosling in The Fall Guy.