Sleeks Movie Review: The Fall Guy

A loose adaptation of the 1980s TV series, The Fall Guy is an American action comedy film from 2024 that was written and directed by David Leitch, who also directed the famous movie, “The Bullet Train” and Drew Pearce. The story is about a stuntman (Ryan Gosling) who is directing his ex-girlfriend (Emily Blunt)’s first action movie.

However, while working on the film, he gets entangled in a scheme involving the lead actor (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Winston Duke, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, and Hannah Waddingham are also included in the cast.

Plot

Hollywood stunt performer Colt Seavers serves as Tom Ryder, a well-known action star, stunt double. However, after a disastrous stunt, he suffers serious injuries and gives up on both his career and his girlfriend, camerawoman Jody Moreno.

Tom’s film producer Gail Meyer gets in touch with Colt, who is now a valet at a small Mexican restaurant, eighteen months later. She informs him that Colt is invited to participate in the Sydney production of Metalstorm, a science fiction epic that Jody is directing for the first time.

Colt finds out upon getting on set that Jody never requested him and is still upset about their separation, with the movie serving as a less-than-subtle medium for her to vent her frustrations toward Colt.

Gail discloses that Tom vanished following his run-in with drug traffickers, and she urges Colt to track him down before his disappearance results in the already extravagant movie being canceled. Colt begins looking for Tom since he doesn’t want Jody’s directing debut to be marred. After arriving at Tom’s flat, he is “attacked” by Iggy, Tom’s girlfriend.

After following her advice, he goes to a bar where he meets Doone, a drug dealer, who connives to get Colt to sip a cocktail that contains hallucinatory chemicals. He goes to Tom’s hotel room after fighting with the drug dealer’s goons and discovers a dead body in an ice-filled bathtub. Colt discovers the body is gone when he and the police return.

While Metalstorm is still being produced, Colt and Jody are starting to get back together, when Gail abruptly tells him he has to go back to the States. Rather, he tracks down his PA Alma Milan in an attempt to find Tom. People searching for a phone that belongs to Tom and is in Alma’s possession attack both of them.

After a protracted chase through Sydney that involves a garbage truck, Colt overcomes them. He opens Tom’s flat phone with his longtime friend Dan Tucker, who is Metalstorm’s stunt coordinator. They come upon a video showing an inebriated Tom shooting his former stuntman Henry Herrera during a party brawl. Colt and Dan are attacked by the henchman, who uses shotgun pellets to destroy the phone.

Dan manages to get away, but Colt gets caught and confronted by Tom, who has been hiding out on a yacht per Gail’s orders. He discloses that Gail is utilizing deepfake technology to replace Tom’s face on the incriminating video with Colt’s in order to frame Colt for the crime.

In addition, Tom says that he planned Colt’s accident because he thought Colt was taking the limelight away from him. While the manipulated video is made public and Henry’s body is found, Gail is trying to persuade Jody that Colt is guilty. After a boat chase, Colt manages to get away and is thought to be dead, but he swims to safety.

The production moves forward when Tom and his henchmen show up at the Metalstorm set the following day. Returning covertly to the set, Colt persuades Jody of his innocence. Together, they coerce Tom into confessing when he’s hooked up to a lav mic during a stunt.

Dan leads the rest of the group in holding off his goons. Gail tries to flee in a helicopter with Tom after stealing the tape at gunpoint, but Jody saves Colt by helping him jump onto the aircraft while it is still in the air. After getting the footage, he collapses onto a crash mat that Dan has set up, watching as Gail and Tom are trapped inside the crashed helicopter. Colt gets exonerated, and he and Jody get back together.

Sleeks Review

It’s no surprise that the movie became a box-office hit, given David Leitch’s brilliance. One of the main reasons Sleeks was motivated to see this film was Leitch’s role as director, considering his previous successes with movies like Deadpool 2, Bullet Train, and John Wick.

For Ryan Gosling, this film was a significant win since his past movies haven’t always made a strong impression. One of his other notable performances was in The Gray Man, and this movie can now be added to that list of successes. The film also took an interesting angle by focusing on stuntmen, the often unsung heroes of the industry. The action sequences were incredible, and the comedic elements were outstanding.