The Fall Guy ★★★½

STUNTMAN turned director David Leitch follows up 2022’s Bullet Train with the even more entertaining The Fall Guy.

Loosely based on an adventure TV series from the 1980s, the film features two charismatic performances from Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

The action sequences come thick and fast but it’s the chemistry between the leads that gives the film wider appeal than just for action fans.

The Fall Guy series was Lee Majors’ follow-up to The Six Million Dollar Man but, even though it lasted five seasons, was never as successful.

Majors played a stunt man who moonlighted as a bounty hunter.

While the series’ regular action sequences were impressive at the time, particularly for the small screen, the attempts at comedy were generally lame, thanks partly to Major’s limited acting skills.

But it has achieved a minor cult following over the years with some audiences including, no doubt, former stuntmen like Leitch.

In one respect, Leitch’s film is a love letter to the men and women who risk injury and death in the name of entertainment and a rallying call for those who keep pushing for an Oscar for Best Stunt to be introduced.

There are plenty of scenes devoted to showing how stunts are set up and executed, but Leitch ensures these scenes also move the narrative along, in particular the relationship between the characters played by Gosling and Blunt.

Gosling plays Colt Seavers, regular stuntman for gormless action star Tom Ryder, played pretty well by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Blunt is Jody Moreno, a promising future director and the love of Colt’s life.

During the opening minutes Colt suffers a severe back injury while performing a stunt for Ryder. As a result, Colt quits the business and ghosts Jody in the process.

Jump to more than a year later and Colt is asked by producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham from the Ted Lasso television series) to make a comeback on Ryder’s latest film.

Colt initially declines until he realises that Jodie has been given her first big studio assignment, helming the sci-fi action romance being filmed in Sydney, Australia.

While the road to rekindling their relationship is rocky, Colt’s life is made even tougher when he agrees to look for Ryder who has gone AWOL from set.

In between completing the elaborate stunts that will showcase the film Colt finds himself being shot at, beaten up and framed for a murder.

For most of the running time things move at a good pace and Gosling’s charisma and a string of one-liners ensure that there is something for most filmgoers to enjoy.

The use of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House isn’t just perfunctory background with a couple of the big action sequences set in and around the landmarks.

And there is some great use of an old Kiss song as a clever needle drop.

If all you’re after is a couple of light and entertaining hours at the movies, The Fall Guy measures up.