Over the course of more than a hundred episodes, Lee Majors worked as Colt Seavers, a stuntman who, between one film and another, earned income as a bounty hunter. The film version keeps Seavers at the forefront, but embraces a plot that delves even deeper into the behind-the-scenes of a would-be blockbuster.
Here, the hero is defended by Ryan Gosling, taking advantage of the cool “Barbie” phase as a dynamo of charm. After suffering an accident on the set of star Tom Ryder’s (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) new adventure, Seavers drops off the radar, leaving his flirtation with a co-worker, Jody Moreno (Emuly Blunt), to watch ships.
A year and a half later, having abandoned the profession, Seavers is called to Australia at the request of producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham), to work on Jody’s debut as a director. Sparks fly at the reunion, but Gail soon reveals to the stuntman her true “mission”: find Ryder, who disappeared after getting into trouble with a tough gang, and save the production.
The plot, a series of dozens of surprises, twists and characters that come and go without much ceremony, is what matters least. Leitch’s interest is in using the structure of action cinema to execute vibrant, fast-paced scenes. He uses all the talent of his stunt team in sequences that leave the magic of digital effects (slightly) aside to focus on the stunts performed in front of the camera.
“O Dublê” (generic and silly title that doesn’t have a tenth of the charm of “Duro na Queda”) has two crucial elements in its favor. The first is the film-within-a-film trick, which makes room for dozens of references (some that only the industry crowd will pick up on) and clever jokes. Both the comedy and the action are very well served.
