Trying to rehash old American TV programs from years gone by rarely, if ever work. Just think of the likes of Starsky and Hutch (2004), Miami Vice (2006) and Get Smart (2008) and you’ll get the idea.
Next in the list of “if you can’t think of anything new let’s trawl through old TV programmes for an idea” is The Fall Guy.
The Fall Guy is loosely based on the TV programme of the same name which starred Lee Majors of The Six Million Dollar Man fame and ran from 1981 to 1986.
With very little plot to talk about The Fall Guy appears to exist only to show more and more outlandish stunts, generally involving flipping and exploding cars.
The plot, or what there is, sees stunt man Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) returning to stunt work, after a bad accident. The one problem with his return is it’s on the set of director Jody Moreno’s (Emily Blunt) big budget sci-fi epic. Moreno being Colts ex-partner who he still carries a torch for. Unfortunately for Colt Moreno doesn’t feel the same way about him.
When leading man Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes missing Colt is tasked by the film’s producer (Hannah Waddingham playing the role as if she’s just stepped off the stage of a pantomime) to track down her missing star.
As I said before that’s pretty much all of a plot there is. The rest of the film involves explosions, crashing cars, car chases, falling stunt men, punch ups, name any stunt and it’s probably somewhere in the films running time.
The Fall Guy is an escapist enough piece of entertainment but I’m sure, like Miami Vice, Starsky and Hutch etc. We won’t be talking about The Fall Guy a year after its release.
