This is way too much fun.
Director David Leitch and scripter Drew Pearce dumped their stars into a frothy, tongue-in-cheek action epic that never takes itself seriously ... while simultaneously delivering a heartfelt indictment of Hollywood’s shameful refusal to properly acknowledge the brave, hard-working stuntmen and women — and their support teams — who’ve operated in the shadows since the dawn of cinema.
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| With everything to lose, Cole (Ryan Gosling) makes a last-ditch effort to solve the weird mystery that plagues his ex's film shoot. |
Most, though, remain anonymous ... thanks in great part to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ ongoing refusal to honor them with an Oscar category.
(They’re about to add one for casting directors ... but still not for stunt workers? Shameful.)
But I digress.
Pearce’s balls-to-the-wall plot, very loosely based on the 1981-86 Lee Majors TV series of the same name, opens as well-respected stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) successfully completes a drop-shot as a stand-in for insufferably self-centered movie star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). The latter, egged on by producer/manager Gail Meyer (the hilariously overblown Hannah Waddingham, late of TV’s Ted Lasso), demands a retake; too much of Colt’s face is visible in the shot, spoiling the illusion that Ryder does his own stunts.
(This arrogant PR nonsense, notorious among far too many of Hollywood’s insecure “action heroes,” is woefully tolerated even to this day.)
The retake ... goes badly.
In a sickening sequence that draws horrified gasps even though Leitch keeps it off-camera — and is a disturbing echo of the real-world accident that crippled Daniel Radcliffe’s longtime stunt double, Davis Holmes (sensitively addressed in a poignant 2023 documentary — Colt breaks his back.
Flash-forward a year and change. Colt has withdrawn from life and the career he loved so much ... and from the woman, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), who also meant so much to him. He now works a dead-end job as a parking attendant; she has parlayed her behind-the-scenes film set responsibilities into a first-time directing assignment on an overblown sci-fi epic dubbed “Metalstorm.” It stars Ryder, of course, with Gail as executive producer.
But there’s trouble on the set. Unknown to Jody, Ryder has mysteriously vanished; worse yet, so has his stunt double, Kevin (Ben Gerrard). Gail, knowing that she can stall for a few days by suggesting that Jody focus on second-unit action scenes, reaches out and begs Cole to step in.
“Jody wants you,” Gail insists. “She needs you.”
Although plagued by doubt and guilt over how he abandoned Jody, Colt cannot resist this plea; could it mean that she has forgiven him?
Imagine his chagrin — upon reaching the set of the Australian shoot — when Jody is totally surprised to see him. And not pleasantly.
An embarrassed and annoyed Colt confronts Gail; she admits to the ruse, insisting that Colt is the only guy who could possibly locate Ryder — with whom he worked and bonded for years — quickly enough to save the film. Meanwhile, by day, Colt is the only guy to keep production running, by filling in for the also-missing Kevin.
The annoyed but reluctantly resigned Jody — encouraged by Gail to tolerate the situation — takes great delight in tormenting Cole with repeated retakes and megaphoned commands laden with icy double-entendres and vexed references to the way he vanished from her life ... much to the amused embarrassment of the film crew.
The truth, of course, is obvious to everybody. Cole and Jody still are madly in love with each other: abundantly clear due to the smoldering, incandescently flirty sexual tension present at all times between Gosling and Blunt. To employ an old-style reference, they make movie magic together.
Blunt, a marvelously subtle actress with the sexiest pout in Hollywood, gets considerable mileage from half-smiles, mocking grins and a laser-drill gaze. But Jody also is obsessed with — and constantly worried about — successfully bringing her debut directorial assignment to completion. Blunt smoothly conveys these conflicts.
Gosling, in turn, makes Cole tolerant, patient and willing to accept Jody’s not-too-righteous wrath: his expression forever compliant and hopeful.
But the mystery remains: What happened to Ryder and Kevin? And why, now that Cole is poking into the matter, do random people keep trying to kill him?
Additional players who help or hinder Cole’s increasingly weird investigation include close friend and stunt supervisor Dan Tucker (Winston Duke); Alma Milan (Stephanie Hus), Ryder’s personal assistant; Iggy Starr (Teresa Palmer), Ryder’s co-star and “showmance” girlfriend; and a posse of goons led by Ryder’s bodyguard, Dressler (Ben Knight).
Oh, and special kudos to Cole’s obedient canine sidekick — Jean Claude, played by a pair of identical female Australian Kelpies — who deserves a paragraph all his own. In a film laden with running gags, the best is the fact that this dog responds solely to Cole’s French commands.
Indeed, Leitch and Pearce toss in all manner of Easter eggs, industry winks and nods, and inside jokes: some easily recognized, others pretty subtle. (How may viewers under the age of 40 will recognize the soundtrack reference to Jan Hammer’s trend-setting scores for the Miami Vice TV series?)
Even the film’s title turns out to be a clever double entendre.
None of this gets in the way of the primary love story, or an escalating series of dog-nuts stunt sequences. The best: a fracas in a skip bin truck that charges across Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge and then onto city streets; and a 225-foot car jump that we viewers assume will cap the story’s climax ... until Leitch — a veteran stuntman-turned-director who knows his stuff — uncorks an even more audacious bit involving a helicopter and camera crane.
The icing on the cake: behind-the-scenes footage, running parallel to the end credits, that reveal how many of these stunning sequences were accomplished. (Hint: No CGI.)
This is Hollywood at its spectacular best. What more could you want?
(An Oscar category for these folks, obviously!)
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