Ken stuntman
Since the success of the first John Wick (which he co-directed with Chad Stahelski, still at the helm of the saga), David Leitch has become one of the favorite names in American action cinema. Until then, we wondered why. Except for a few flashy style effects (the eternal sequence shot which has no other purpose than to show who has the biggest), the former stuntman has never had the flamboyance of his former partner, and his know-how only serves the soup to franchises (Deadpool 2, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw) or to a most embarrassing post-modernism.
Bullet Train was in this respect the quintessence of a false good idea, a cool concept that never exceeds its note of intention. In the various carriages of the train which serves as its unique setting, the film revels in its narrative convolutions, its permanent second degree and other nudges at the viewer. Behind or in front of the screen, everyone is supposed to agree on the emptiness of the proposal, even its laziness, while the result makes fun of the hackneyed codes of the 80s and 90s while recycling them.
Love at first sight on set
To be clear, The Fall Guy does not avoid most of these pitfalls, as affirmed by its offbeat pitch where a former retired stuntman, Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling), infiltrates the set of Jody (Emily Blunt), the woman he love. His mission ? Find Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the missing star of the feature film that Colt dubbed for a long time.
To maintain this level of absurdity and the suspense of its twisted scenario, the screenplay continues with pseudo-Tarantinesque asides and breaks in tone. It’s sometimes amusing, but the easy narrative shortcuts and the jokes that destroy any desire for tension end up winning out, as if the film refused to have feelings. Which is quite paradoxical, given that The Fall Guy speaks to the depths of men’s difficulty in being sincere.
Am I not hot when I’m in my feelings?
The Nice Guy
As the archetypal muscular and impassive guy, Colt gradually learns to open up to others and the world, after having withdrawn into himself following an injury that could have cost him his life. Without surprise, this charisma tinged with fragility is perfect for Ryan Goslingwho continues to tenderly deconstruct the image of an invasive masculinity, who discovers that she does not have everything to prove by her virility.
Through this discreet figure, whose raised thumb symbolizes a fragile facade, The Fall Guy rightly pays homage to a profession of anonymity, whose reason for being is none other than erasure, invisibility. For the first time in his career, David Leitch finds in the character of Colt and in his interpreter a real subject, inspired by his past in stunt work (he was notably one of Brad Pitt’s understudies) and the founding of 87North , a production company specializing in the development of action sequences.
Not Greta Gerwig
Therefore, the director’s metatextual self-satisfaction finds justification here. Nonchalantly, The Fall Guy has fun scratching the Hollywood machineits overloaded schedules, its impossible to manage teams and its oversized egos, whether it’s a manipulative producer or a diva actor who pretends to do his own stunts.
However, the mise en abyme is not limited to these easy targets, and focuses on the little hands discredited by the studio system. We may find it ironic to have one of Hollywood’s biggest current celebrities play such a role, but Gosling himself is aware of it, and transforms his performance into a remix of his best roles, somewhere between the mute stuntman of Drive and Ken’s burlesque exuberance.
Behind the wink, it is he who makes the little heart of the feature film beat, and who gives substance to his childish and amazed look at the behind-the-scenes of cinema. David Leitch even purifies his action scenes as much as possible, as if its cutting demanded to be noticed and laid bare in order to anchor itself in the bizarre reality of its narration. The whole thing sometimes lacks madness, but has the merit of its nesting doll-like humility, seeing Gosling embody a double who is herself doubled as soon as a connection allows it.
Do not attempt to reproduce at home
Atomic Blond
Therein lies the pleasant surprise of The Fall Guy : its ability to give meaning – and therefore value – to the worst faults of its director. For once, the show-off and standardized sequence shot does not seek a logistical feat. Strategically, Leitch uses it during his introduction, to retrace the entire hierarchy of a film set. We could also bring up a split-screen discussion on the subject… split-screen, a fun exercise which shows that the film has energy to spare.
Moreover, the filmmaker has never been so inventive outside of his action scenes. Through his more harmonious mix of genres than usual, he is primarily interested in his two main characters and the way they revolve around each other like two magnets. The Fall Guy is at its best when it assumes its role as a romantic comedye, and recalls, not without a certain nostalgia, the neglected importance of glamor at the heart of Hollywood spectacle.
Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are obviously perfect to flesh out this dynamic, and their duo stands out for the counterpoint that the film likes to highlight: that of the interchangeable faces of an industry where the IPs and their icons count more than those who interpret them. This is undoubtedly dishonest given David Leitch’s pedigree, unless we see some form of redemption. This time, we prefer to see the glass half full.
