“The Fall Guy” is a funny, thrilling and captivating 2 hours and 6 minutes of my life I wish I could experience for the first time again. Directed by David Letch, The Fall Guy is the story of Colt Seavers (played by Ryan Gosling), the stunting body double of action star Tom Ryder (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) as he comes back from a tragic on-set injury to star in a movie directed by his former situation-ship Jody Moreno (played by Emily Blunt). When Ryder stops coming to work, Seavers is tasked with hunting him down by the film’s producer, Gail Meyer (played by Hannah Weddingham). He soon comes to realize that the rabbit hole of Ryder’s disappearance goes deeper than he had expected. The plot kept me on my toes all throughout the entire film, despite me initially thinking the concept was corny.
Aside from an exciting story line, the soundtrack was also very well done. Throughout the film, different mixes of Kiss’s “I Was Made For Loving You” was played, making the viewer feel sentimental for the main character as they were reminded of all the events that had led up to that moment in the film.
However, no project is perfect. When I was sitting in the theater, I found myself confused by one major plot hole. When Seavers first discovers Ryder’s stunt-doubles body, he tells a police officer about the crime, bringing him to the tub where the body was found sitting in ice. However, the tub is empty. My question is, when Seavers is framed for the crime later, why wouldn’t that police officer come forward giving his testimony of how Seavers attempted to report the crime? The encounter would not have been easy to forget for the officer, so I was thrown off by this detail.
A love letter to the un-sung heros of Hollywood, I hope The Fall Guy brings more public appreciation to stunt doubles. Maybe one day soon in the future, we may even see a stunt double category at major award shows. Plot holes aside, I would certainly recommend seeing this movie if given the chance.
