Ryan Gosling falls hard in this fun comedy and action film
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“The Stuntman” is less a film and more a celebration. Of course, director David Leitch (“Atomic Blonde”, “Bullet Train”) has already proven that he knows how to balance action and comedy.
Here, he puts a pair of stars overflowing with charm at the service of an exaggerated, absurd plot that doesn’t always make sense.
The cheap thing, however, is to use fiction to applaud the people who actually work behind the scenes.
Before becoming a safe bet in commanding big shows in Hollywood, Leitch paid his bills as a stuntman.
Adapting the series “Duro da Queda”, set in this world and which formed the characters of many people in the 1980s, was a natural choice.
Throughout the 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 set, Seavers falls off the radar, leaving his flirtation with a co-worker, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), to watch ships.
A year and a half later, having abandoned the profession, Seavers is called to Australia 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.
