Critics fret that there is hardly any market left for American films made with adults in mind. One reason we worry is because there has been virtually zero interest in films, intelligent or otherwise, about our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Films as powerful as In the Valley of Elah and The Hurt Locker together grossed less than $20 million.
The new film The Messenger probably won’t do boffo box office itself, but this time we can skip the hand-wringing. Unlike most of its predecessors, this aftermath-of-war movie really isn’t very good. Or rather, for maybe a third of its playing time the film is amazing and maybe even important. But for the other two-thirds I recommend copious amounts of popcorn to keep you company.
Let’s start with the good news. The Messenger is more or less a buddy movie (though admittedly a very idiosyncratic one) that follows the travails of Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), an emotionally and physically damaged war “hero” (the movie itself supplies the irony), and his partner, Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), as they make their rounds informing parents and spouses that their loved ones have just died in action. It’s an audacious idea for a film, and in the scenes where Stone and Will are getting their faces slapped, spit on, and cried into by the heartbroken (such as an excellent Steve Buscemi), the film is extremely moving.
The devastated parents and wives come in a variety of ages, races and economic brackets; at times the film feels like a secret roadmap of American grief.
But filmmaker Oren Moverman, himself a former Israeli soldier, has little idea of what to do with his characters when they’re not painfully reciting their “The Secretary of the Army regrets to inform you…” lines. Despite the fact that the two lead actors work well together, and that their characters mesh in an interesting way (turns out Captain Stone is jealous that his enlisted assistant is a battle-tested warrior and he isn’t), the film only works at all when both men are on screen. There’s a strange tinge of Apocalypse Now here, which for a time had me wishing that the gleaming-pated and emotionally spiky Harrelson had played Col. Kurtz instead of the preposterous Brando. Ben Foster certainly seems to be channeling Martin Sheen’s Captain Willard when his character drunkenly smashes up his own apartment.
Actually, Foster’s performance is a big part of the film’s problem. Outside of the “messenger” scenes, Foster mostly seems to be channeling other war movies rather than honest emotion. He’s gotten some good reviews for his work here, but I’d have to rate his performance a dud. The film’s main subplot, Will’s courtship of the newly-widowed Olivia (Samantha Morton), is not so much awkward, and therefore touching, as “huh”-inducing. Really, Sergeant?
Harrelson’s performance, and his character, are much more interesting. Harrelson’s peeling away of his emotionally stunted good-old-boy’s layers often strikes a nerve, but Moverman unwisely has him playing second banana.
For a profession that has been integral to the movie industry from the very start, it’s kind of strange what little public attention stunt performers get. By design, their faces are rarely seen and despite a push by some big names in Hollywood, they have yet to get recognized in a category at the Academy Awards. If the new movie The Fall Guy has anything to say about it, that will soon change.
Inspired by the ‘80s TV show of the same name, the film stars Ryan Gosling as Colt Seavers, a longtime stuntman who is currently the double for action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). As the film begins, he’s in a relationship with Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), a camera operator with aspirations to become a director one day. A freak accident puts Colt’s career on pause for a while, while Jody is given her big shot by producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham).
Soon enough, Colt is called back into service by Gail to help out on Jody’s sci-fi epic, Metal Storm, shooting in Australia. While he does get to show some of his stunt abilities on the film, he finds out that the real reason Gail asked for him is that Tom has gone missing after falling in with a criminal group, and she wants Colt to track Tom down. What ensues is a meta film in which a stunt man is asked to perform some real-life heroics while still hoping to get the girl in the end.
Directed by David Leitch and written by Drew Pearce, the film is totally ridiculous, sometimes in really good way and sometimes in a bad way. The meta-ness of the film starts right away, with the making of the films within the film being the focus, featuring plenty of references or allusions to the actual Hollywood industry and real stars. They have lots of fun in this respect, rarely passing by an opportunity to wink at the audience to let them know they’re in on the joke.
The stunts, of course, are the star of the show, and Leitch – a longtime stunt man/stunt coordinator – is the perfect person to showcase them in all their glory. However, instead of the near-constant action seen in Leitch films like Bullet Train or Deadpool 2, he goes for quality over quantity here. He also includes smaller moments that humorously comment on the fact that Colt is a stunt man doing “real” stunts, continuing the overall theme of the film.
It’s hard to have it all, though, and where the film falters is in its storytelling. While Gosling and Blunt have been a delight promoting the movie together at the Oscars and on SNL, their chemistry in the film is somewhat lacking. That’s mostly because Pearce never finds a way to make the audience truly invest in their characters’ relationship. Almost every other character is one-note, serving merely as vehicles to propel the film to the next big stunt sequence.
Prior to Barbie, it was safe to say that Gosling was in a lull in his career, but his charm in that film and this one have put him right back on top again. If a couple of line readings (“spicy margarita”) have him still in Ken mode, you can forgive him. Blunt is also good, but her role doesn’t give her quite as much to do as Gosling. Taylor-Johnson and Waddingham dial it up to 11 for their respective roles, an idea that works for Taylor-Johnson since he’s playing an action star, but doesn’t do Waddingham any favors (and neither does her odd wig).
The Fall Guy is a fun if imperfect film that does exactly what it was intended to do: Showcase the stunt community in all its glory. It would have been nice if the filmmakers had paid as much attention to the story as they did the action, but that probably would have gotten in the way of all of the explosions and fighting.
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The Fall Guy opens in theaters on May 3.