The Fall Guy: An Important Movie

this video is sponsored by skillshare the film industry is in a bit of a silly little existential crisis at the moment some of you will say hey it's been in a crisis but before this it felt as though they always had remakes superhero films sequels Etc to fall back on for Success look at 2019s box office for example and for years everyone kind of knew this wasn't a sustainable way of running the industry but there wasn't really much we could do about it with the exception of films with Awards potential that all get smooshed and forgotten about because of an overcrowded award season Hollywood just wasn't coming up with a lot of new original films at least films that were meant to draw a big crowd in theater rather than at home and then a number of things happened the pandemic the strikes superhero fatigue more streaming services and now we're at a point where it doesn't matter if it's a superhero movie a remake or a sequel you can't really count on anything to make its money back maybe because they're putting a disgusting amount of money into some of these lousy ideas but the point is nothing is a guaranteed hit anymore besides Barbie the more I think about the success of Barbie the the happier it makes me because Barbie is a comedy the Oscar campaign and discourse we've all moved on from will tell you it's more than that which it is but at its core Barbie was such a hit because it was simply fun it was bright and pink and pretty to look at and had catchy songs and was hilarious and the year before that the biggest of the year that I didn't anticipate being the biggest of the year was Top Gun Maverick which was a hit because it was sincere nostalgic loud and breathtaking both films captured cinematic escapism at its finest both were the fastest two hours I had felt in a movie theater in a while a quality that's been proven to be something you need to earn it's not a matter of just throwing ideas at the wall hoping your baby audience is entertained and calling that escapism no the earned escapism is the kind of stuff that becomes a hit because it reminds people why they love movies that's where the fall guy comes in the way I've just described the two biggest theatrical hits of the last two years you would think the Fall Guy would be a Surefire smash not only does it star Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt who both dominated the box office last summer but it's also a Capital C comedy filled to the brim with jokes similar to Barbie with breathtaking stunts that satisfy in all the ways you want them to similar to Top Gun even the runtime Falls somewhere in between these other two films David Leech even proved himself to be a pretty successful director with bullet train a few years ago more on that later and in some ways it's nostalgic in being a blockbuster comedy that we haven't seen in a while but self-aware in all the ways audiences need it to be these days it simply has all the pieces to be a hit and at the time of putting this video out I don't know know if the movie is going to be a hit I can see a world where it flops I can also see a world where it becomes one of the biggest films of the Year unlike those other two films I do not see this being a best picture nominee but minutes before this screening started I saw a couple walk in with a newborn baby clearly the poll here was just too good for them to stay home and wait there's something in the air about this thing I guess what I'm saying is I hope this film is a hit not because I'm the biggest Fall Guy fan in the world but because something this undeniably fun and worthy of success should be a hit and if it's not I don't really know what a Hollywood Blockbuster is supposed to look like anymore in a weird turn of events the Fall Guy is an important movie and it's also a wonderful Lo to stunt work stunt work is admittedly not something I knew a ton about but is a part of the industry I've always been fascinated by and thanks to this week sponsor skillshare I was able to learn a thing or two about it skillshare has this incredible class by P laroz all about learning how to Stage stunts in your film the class breaks down everything from how to prep with a stunt coordinator to how to edit those stunts truly if you want to go into film making I cannot recommend this class enough I found it honestly fascinating and eye opening I can't wait till one day put what I learned to the test all thanks to skillshare skillshare is the largest online learning community for creatives with thousands of classes led by industry experts across film illustration design freelance productivity and more this summer it's all about investing in yourself start a Learning Journey on skillshare to explore your creativity and find new passions like stunt work be like Ryan goling the best part is the first five 00 people to use my link in the description will receive a one-month free trial of skillshare get started today the fall guy tells the story of a stunt man named Colt sers and what happens when he returns to the industry after suffering a near career-ending injury I have to say what we're all thinking Ryan Gosling is mostly why this movie works as well as it does before it even came out I'll be honest I didn't think it looked that great the trailer for this made it seem like the most Ryan Reynolds movie ever that Ryan Reynolds was maybe supposed to be in but instead we got Ryan goling and thank God for that I don't even hate Ryan Reynolds that much but really if you replaced goling with Reynolds and changed nothing else had him say all the same lines with the same delivery it would be significantly less enjoyable in a weird turn of events Ryan Gosling has become one of our best comedic actors working today I don't know how this happened there were hints of it in the nice guys in la la land but this in Barbie proofed he just has something about him that makes me laugh uncontrollably there are very few actors who could do something where I literally can't help but laugh and that happened most of the time during in this movie in general once I warmed up to the film a bit I thought it really started to fly with the comedy usually I'm not a fan of a film milking one specific bit throughout the movie because if it didn't land the first time it's sure as [ __ ] not going to land the 20th time oh God sorry I just I got flashbacks to loveing thunder but the Fall Guy has this running bit with a French dog that never got old something about it tickled me still tickles me I love it Emily Blunt too so much funnier than I remember her being she takes the material so seriously and treats all the romantic aspects with such sincerity that it ends up being really funny in a way I definitely thought was intentional Hannah watting ham who I never thought was that good in Ted lasso just eats up her role in this one she's got such an expressive face that's always fun to watch Winston Duke plays the sidekick really well I thought he was hilarious and Aaron Taylor Johnson who I know I just made fun of in my latest what I watched this month video he was fun I have to admit I still don't think he'd be a good James Bond I still think there's something about him that I find really Bland I don't know what it is I I can't explain that I just there's something about him that doesn't work for me but I can't deny that when he really lets loose near the end of the film I was enthralled I was into it if you can't tell there are basically no performances in here that Miss some are better than others for sure but nobody is outright bad which is a skill of leech that I've come to appreciate I think he's really good at balancing a large Ensemble of colorful characters who each have their own quirks quality aside his films feel like their own little worlds and I take that any day over something where it doesn't even feel like the actors are in the same room basically I love a film where you can tell being on set was probably a lot of fun that quality makes the silliness of it all feel pretty contagious and everything about the film is better off because of it the Fall Guy is pitched as an action comedy when really it's a romantic comedy with some action that takes place on the set of a sci-fi movie does it sound convoluted because it is but in a weird way it kind of works the film while hopping through genres decides to stick with one to be the backdrop for it all which is comedy and because of that it manages to get away with its more cheesy romantic moments the Cal relationship here is interesting because it doesn't actually feel all that romantic in a traditional romcom way in the way anyone but you attempts but at the same time goling and blunt have so much more chemistry and work enough as a pair that the romance scenes are always interesting and fun to watch play out unlike anyone but you what I find more interesting about this though is how much it differs from leech's previous film bullet train a film that just so happened to come out the same year as top gun Maverick that year while I didn't hate bullet train there was something overwhelming ly sour about it to me it left a bad taste in my mouth I think because I had seen Maverick just months before and experienced what it felt like to watch a film take itself so seriously and to commit to the cheesiness so authentically I really just couldn't get myself to even pretend to care about a film that felt so annoyingly self-aware and smug about its action trying so hard to be cool while at the same time trying so hard to tell you it's not trying to be cool you know the Fall Guy in that way is the perfect followup a film that could only exist after the release of both Maverick and bullet train the Fall Guy has all the typical leech isms some of which don't work like the convoluted second half and the Half Baked protagonist both things that I also saw in bullet train honestly while I'm at it as fun as the action is conceptually I think leech covers these scenes pretty lousily and there are crucial moments that don't really come together in the edit but the moments that do work like the comedy the colorful set of characters again the setups for the action that stuff really flies it's like it's taking the Classic Hollywood cheese that everyone ate up in Maverick the thing that makes movies so enjoyable and it finds a way to make it funny without being smug about it this even has a parody at one point of a new movie that's pretty relevant right now and it's a moment that shouldn't work at all with a cameo that shouldn't work at all but I laughed it it did it for me and yeah in some ways I wish this would tone down the self-awareness a bit here and there the whole split screen gag really did not work for me it felt like bad Edgar Wright if nothing else I see this as one of the most ideal airplane movies I've come across in recent years and for all these reasons and more I just hope this thing does well it even if it's not a perfect movie by a long shot it deserves so much success I would love this to be a huge Summer movie and I think that's all I have to say thanks for watching please go buy a ticket for the Fall Guy and form your own opinion and I'll see you in the next one [Music] w [Music]

Channel: Karsten Runquist

Views: 205,115

Keywords: Karsten Runquist, Movie, Film, Filmmaking, Video Essay, Films, Cinema, Oscars, New, Movies, Explained, Ending, Review, Theory, Let Me Explain, The Fall Guy, Bullet Train, Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Ryan Reynolds, Brad Pitt, Winston Duke, Hannah Waddingham, Stephanie Hsu, Barbie, Top Gun Maverick, Hollywood, SAG, Strike, Netflix, Industry, Action, Explain, Deadpool, movies, 2024

Id: bKRlWQ9DNlg

Length: 9min 44sec (584 seconds)

Published: Sat May 04 2024