The Fall Guy is a love letter to filmmaking above anything else
I watched The Fall Guy the other day and it was both much better and extremely different than I expected it to be? I feel like both the marketing materials and most people's reactions seemed to be portraying something mostly unrelated to the film I actually watched.
To me the overriding goal and purpose was not the characters or relationships or even really the central plot, it was a film about making films. But not in a mocking or satirical way, and not in a pretentious challenging way. Just in a really genuine and affectionate and clever way!
Obviously some plots of the film were explicitly about the characters making films. And in all of those parts, the whole process and all the people involved were portrayed with such joy and sincerity. Every crew member was shown being both good at, and also really caring about their job. They were still varied and emotional and had different approaches to what they were doing! But they were all clearly contributing something important to the making of their film.
Even Tom and Gail, who were essentially the villains of overarching storyline, were presented as being extremely competent and dedicated to their jobs on the film itself - as objectionable as they may have been about doing those jobs. In the climactic fight scene, Tom still defends Colt as being "one of the best stunt doubles I've ever had". While they're literally trying to kill each other, all of the characters value filmmaking over anything else.
It wasn't just the characters, the systems and logistics of filmmaking were presented in the same way. Every single scene that was on a production set had a completely packed background full of all the important work being done on the film. The processes of camera work, sound, pyrotechnics, acting, props, and (of course!) stunts were pointed out over and over again both explicitly and implicitly, with enthusaism and realism.
And of course there's the fact that all of the action Colt had to do depended on him being an extremely good and competent stunt performer! He knows how to act shot convincingly enough that the villain doesn't realise the gun is fake. He knows how to use the accelerant to blow fire on the bad guys before they light him up. The reason he manages to pull off his big boat escape is because it's a move he's performed hundreds of times ("I could do it with my hands tied behind my back")! The climactic confession scene depends on the entire crew coming together and pulling off a really challenging stunt. And once they get the confession, they go ahead and finish the scene because their film needs it.
AND. On top of ALL THAT. There were at least three different meta layers that were saying the same thing in different ways at the same time!!!
Closely connected to the explicit layer was the layer of repeatedly cutting back and forth between the production shots and the final cut of Metalstorm. Obviously Metalstorm was supposed to seem like a silly film on the surface level. But when it was actually being shown, it was just a good film. It was well-made and well-acted and dramatic and compelling and everyone who was seeing it loved it! Showing that cut in with the production shots showed how valuable the crew's work was while they were doing it.
Then the layer above that is in the way The Fall Guy chose to portray the events it was about. Not only the events that were about filmmaking, but also the action of the main storyline. It was an action film, but it was about action filmmakers getting sucked into an action plot. So it directly focused on so many things that action films usually brush over. Each time Colt needed to do an action stunt, the film showed us why it was necessary, how he planned and prepared for it, and what the consequences were. It didn't just show a badass move with no context or aftermath.
We watched him move the sofa cushions under the balcony several minutes before he fights someone up there and falls down onto them. We see him put in his mouthguard before he jumps in front of the car. We see him psyching himself up before all the moves that he knows will hurt. We see him constantly considering the safety of other people, and always trying to minimise risk and harm. We hear him grunt and groan every time he falls or gets hit. We see him check himself over for injuries afterwards. All of the processes that Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt would never even admit to, are made explicit and shown as a a tribute to the skill and knowledge of stunt performers.
Another layer above that are a whole bunch of beautiful reciprocal references between things that happen in the film and ways The Fall Guy itself is made. The opening scene is an incredible 5-minute single shot with an insane amount of background activity and a big stunt. Then later in the film Jody says she wants to do a "oner" and we get to see the crew react to how challenging they are to make. A crew member says "be careful, it's product placement" about the car, and then throughout the film its features are being highlighted like real product placement.
"What do you think about split screen?" and then the scene switches to split screen. The characters are excited because their cannon roll broke a world record - the actual stunt filmed for The Fall Guy literally broke a real world record! "They give Oscars for that?", and the stunt performers are listed first thing after the cast in the end credits. These references are fun and silly, but they also just make it really clear that the people who made it love and care about films and were having a great time!
There's just. So much affection and enthusiasm evident in every aspect of making the film. I'm genuinely confused when people say it's just rubbish satire, or a trashy action romcom, because like. It's not satire! It's not primarily a romance or a comedy or even an action film! It's a love letter to filmmaking!!!
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