February 12, 2025

THE FALL GUY (2024) – Soulless and a missed opportunity

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Rating: ⭐⭐

thefallguy

Both Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are currently the toasts of Hollywood being recently recognised for their performances in Barbie and Oppenheimer. Both received the honour of being nominated as supporting roles in their respective categories. Pairing these two hot items and releasing a movie with them headlining the cast so soon after the awards season is a coup thanks to all the free publicity of the movie’s stars. Alas, it is an opportunity that is not used to good advantage. Ryan and Emily are both excellent actors and they have appeared in numerous highly acclaimed movies. Hence it is mortifying to watch them totally wasted in this feather weight of a romantic comedy revolving around a stunt man and his crush, on up and rising director. Their romance is interrupted by some unexpected situations and get pulled into a really silly plot involving crooked film crew members and murder.

Right from the start the frivolous tone of the movie is set with the exchange of some juvenile dialouge between our star which is ridden with “humour” to solicit laughs from the audience. We then get treated to a series of eye-popping stunts in a play up to the film’s title. Even though the movie is about a movie stunt man, it does not go beyond providing a “scratch the surface” level of facts about the profession or share any tricks of the trade. This is a shame as that could have added a bit more depth to the context and story. As it is the film fails to serve as a decent tribute to the stuntmen that risk their lives while making films. In films like these, logic is often lacking as we find the plot takes on one scarcely credible situation after another. Ryan and Emily are merely like pawns in the chessboard quite helpless is providing any value apart from their natural charm and good looks. The stunts are of course amazing to watch, the action sequences slickly choreographed, and the overall production values are top notched. Too bad the film’s story had to take a back seat as our stars do not get the chance to show us what they are capable of. The feeling is a bit like watching a football match with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo but they both didn’t get the chance to show any of their fancy movies and ended up just dribbling the ball throughout the match!

Another star in the cast, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, was also equally under utilised and totally wasted. Aaron plays a fictional Hollywood superstar Tom Ryder. This supporting role could have the potential of being hilarious but Aaron just comes in and out without leaving an impression here. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is fast becoming a marquee star himself with the major starring role in Kraven the Hunter and as of today has remained at the top of the list of actors most likely to become the next James Bond!

The Fall Guy is at best passable mindless entertainment, but mostly a disappointment because of the film makers’ failure to make use of their A-list stars.

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