Why So Blu?

The Fall Guy (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

A long, long time ago I would watch The Fall Guy TV show each week with my dad.  I secretly had a crush on Heather Thomas at a very young age.  That bikini she wore in the opening credit sequence each week…ooh la la.  The Fall Guy is also special to me because it’s the very first TV show I ever recorded on a VHS tape.  We were poor growing up so one day my grandfather gave my dad a brand new VHS deck.  I was over the moon.  I couldn’t believe it.  We went home later that evening and I recorded that night’s episode of The Fall Guy.  I was so in awe of the fact that I could record something and watch it back any time that I think I viewed that episode three more times that very same evening.  Therefore, one can kind of come to the conclusion that The Fall Guy was responsible for my love of home media products and technology.  That sounds good to me!

Film

So when a feature film adaptation of the original Fall Guy show was announced I was already onboard with no questions asked.  It helps that Ryan Gosling and the beautiful Emily Blunt are in it, but who am I kidding?  I would have even seen this if Nic Cage and Melissa McCarthy were the main billed actors.  That’s how much I love The Fall Guy.  However, I don’t think you can really call this an adaptation of the original show.  How about this movie was inspired by?  Yeah.  That sounds a lot better to me.  So really the only sure tie-in here is that Ryan Gosling’s character is named Colt Seavers.  That’s the character Lee Majors portrayed in the 80’s show.  Everything else is brand new and just icing on the cake so let’s get started!

In addition to Ryan and Emily the film also stars another actor I love watching, Aaron Taylor-Johnson.  He’s always so good!  Rounding up the rest of The Fall Guy main cast includes Ted Lasso‘s Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke and Stephanie Hsu.  And if you seen the film already and wonder why it’s so silly, then look no further the words it’s penned by the screenwriter of Hobbs & Shaw, Drew Pearce.  Also, it’s made by the same director of the aforementioned movie, David Leitch.  And it’s billed as one of the best date movies of the year.  So what more can you ask for?  That was a rhetorical question.  However, if your answer to that was KISS, then you’re in luck.  “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” is prominently featured throughout so many times.  No joke!  I lost track of how many time you hear the KISS version, an instrumental take or even YUNGBLUD’s version.

The Fall Guy is billed as a love letter to action movies and the hard-working stunt crew who make them.  I can definitely get behind that tagline.  The film is about a stunt man after all.  His name is Colt Seavers (Gosling).  When we first meet him he’s Tom Ryder’s (Taylor-Johnson) stunt double.  But when a career ending stunt goes wrong what gets Colt back in the action?  And why doesn’t everyone want to kill him all the sudden?  I won’t tell you any of that here, but I will say this.  Emily Blunt play’s Gosling’s love interest in this one and that’s why it’s billed as the ultimate date movie.  You got two of the best looking actors in Hollywood today in an over-the-top action comedy (not like the original TV show at all) with a good looking couple, romance thrown in.  It has all the makings of a big box office popcorn movie with a heavy side serving of KISS.  I know right.  How can you not “fall” in love this one?  That’s a rhetorical one again!  Ha!

All in all I like The Fall Guy, but I have to be honest about something.  Even after 3 viewings now of just the theatrical cut alone it still feels like a long movie.  I applaud the unique plot devices and making it feel like a movie within a movie (even a nod to screenwriting), but still I feel like I could easily trim at least 15 minutes from the runtime.  I really think it would work in its favor, but that’s why I am not paid to make those decisions.  The action and stunts are pretty wild, crazy and over the top, but that’s what you get in my opinion from Drew Pearce and David Leitch.  Thankfully the charisma and smile of Ryan Gosling alone are enough to save this one from totally sinking due to its bloats.  The chemistry between Blunt and him add to it.  It’s a fun date, action blockbuster movie, but nothing more and nothing less.  I believe this will ultimately go down as a forgettable release in 2024, albeit a fun one.  Outside of all that it’s the nostalgic truck Gosling drives, the unicorn and asking for a fruit platter scenes that make this worthwhile for me.

Video

The below video score and relative comments are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentations of The Fall Guy.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
• Layers: BD-100
• Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
• Clarity/Detail: Fine details can be found in abundance within this Dolby Vision/HDR10 video asset.  The BD-100 disc size gives the picture plenty of room to breathe ushering in crystal clear details like hair, skin and fabrics as well as environments like the city streets, night clubs and so much more.
• Depth: There is an immense sense of three-dimensional depth in the presentation.  One has to look no further than any alley, cityscape, room, establishing shot, etc.  The image never felt flat at all here.
• Black Levels: Black levels and bright white contrast is exceptional throughout.  I really love how the black levels all felt so natural and never really exaggerated even in the darkest of scenes.
• Color Reproduction: Depending upon the scene the colors can be bold and vivacious and also warm and natural when called upon. I just loved the colors here as it really played to the fun and action in the film presentation itself.
• Flesh Tones: Skin tones were all natural looking and even throughout.
• Noise/Artifacts: Thankfully there are no blemishes in the print or any other nasty artifacts in the encode to write about.  I never found one thing to distract me here other than the natural beauty of Miss Emily Blunt.

Audio

Like I mentioned up above in the video section, the below audio score and judging comments are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentations of The Fall Guy.

• Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, French Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
• Dynamics: The Fall Guy‘s audio presentation on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray will rock your viewing environment in both the action sense and many uses of KISS’s “I Was Made For Lovin’ You.”  Dynamically speaking, it’s the action that does all the damage here.  When there’s no action you have a tiny bit of ambience, but nothing more to bring this one to life.  However, that’s not to say it’s not a balanced affair as it is.
• Height: Because of all the action sequences there’s an ambulance of things happening in the height channels including the music and soundtrack seeping into them too, which I love that in all productions as of late.  Some really cool Atmos examples include fake rain falling down on movie sets as well as bullets spraying down from above.
• Low Frequency Extension: The LFE channel is heavily engaged within the action sequences.  There are a lot of explosions (so many to speak of) and even firework moments where the LFE makes itself know.  There’s even a pretty heavy car chase sequences that carries a lot of heft and punishment in this one.   a
• Surround Sound Presentation: The surround sound is not the most immersive of them all, but it’s the ambient sounds, offscreen moments and the zany action that manage to keep it in the game.  At its core The Fall Guy is a comedy so when there’s no action or music happening you have to listen really diligently for ambiance behind you.
• Dialogue Reproduction: Even at the lowest listening volume I never once had an issue understanding the dialogue.  It was always clean, clear, precise and crisp for me.  That’s a huge win in my book all the time.

Extras

The Fall Guy 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features over an hour of never-before-seen bonus content including the filmmakers breaking down five different stunts from the film and a behind-the-scenes look at filming in Australia with the all-star cast and crew for an insider’s look at turning the original TV series into a crowd-pleasing new movie, as well as a gag reel, alternate takes and much more.  That of course is straight from the press release, but I have you covered with everything you’ll find down below.  You also get not one, but 2 versions of the film too!  And I love how they include BOTH cuts of the film on 2 separate 4K UHD discs.  That’s awesome and a huge reason why I am giving the Extras 4 stars.  You get both the theatrical version and the Extended Cut with 20 additional minutes containing more action, more laughs, more stunts and more sexy bacon.  Haha.  You also get all of this included in the digital redemption code, which you can easily redeem in Movies Anywhere.  And now without further ado here are all the extras!

• Extended Cut (2:26:00) – An extended cut of the film with 20 minutes of additional footage featuring more action, more laughs and more stunts. IF you’re curious as to what all makes up that extra 20 minutes of footage, check out this article HERE.  I have seen both versions now and while there are great things about the extended cut like the unicorn drug chases (LOL) I prefer the theatrical cut.  I feel it’s already a long movie and the 20 extra minutes, in my opinion, really makes you feel that runtime.  But hey!  That’s just my opinion!
• Gag Reel (4:37)
• Alternate Takes (5:54)
• Stunts on Stunts: Breaking Down The Action (19:08) – Here we have 5 breakdowns that detail the meticulous designs, careful preparation and the execution that goes into pulling off the film’s stunts.
  • City Truck Jump / Sidewinder (3:02) – Grip the wheel with stunt driver Logan Holladay, who provides a first-person view of an incredible stunt that launches a truck onto a crowded city street.
  • Garbage Bin (3:58)– Speed across Sydney’s Harbour Bridge while watching Ryan Gosling and the stunt performers surf on a skidding door, trade punches in a spinning bin and wrestle with an attack dog.
  • Boat Chase (3:33) – Blast back to the past with a classic boat jump stunt, no green screen required, complete with an awesome explosion that lights up the water around the iconic Sydney Opera House.
  • Car Jump (3:42) – Prepare for possibly the film’s most dangerous stunt: a bomb-blasting ride in a tricked-out vehicle that leads into a heart-stopping jump across an enormous expanse.
  • High Fall (4:53) – Troy Brown, the son of legendary stunt performer Bob Brown, follows in his father’s footsteps with a high fall off a helicopter like only their family can deliver.
• Making a Meta Masterpiece (16:05) – The filmmaking team and cast take you behind the scenes in Australia for an insider’s look into the creativity and camaraderie that turns the original TV series into this movie.
• How to Break a World Record (6:06) – Cheer along with the crew as driving double Logan Holladay and the stunt team craft a cannon roll crash that breaks a Guinness World Record.
• Nightclub Mayhem (3:31)– Fight coordinator Sunny Sun and stunt double Justin Eaton venture behind the camera to choreograph a bottle-breaking battle between Colt Seavers and goons.
• The Art of Doubling  (4:24) – Here you get to meet stunt double Ben Jenkin, a man willing to be set on fire, hit by a car and take risks with Ryan Gosling to collectively make a single character look cool.
• Making Metalstorm (4:33) – Cowboys collide with aliens in this look at the creation of Metalstorm, our film within this film.
• Falling For The Fall Guy With Bob Reese (4:25) – Professional parkour athlete and influencer Bob Reese recreates stunts from the movie, including a scissor-lift dive, Kong vault and a heart-stopping high fall.
• Feature Commentary – This commentary tracks includes Director/Producer David Leitch and Producer Kelly McCormick and is available on both the theatrical and extended cuts.

Summary

Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen.  The Fall Guy IS a FUN movie, but for those looking for the nostalgia of the 1980’s action series it is NOT that.  Instead it’s a fresh, modern day film with some clever plot devices, but ultimately just an ordinary action/date movie in my opinion that goes a little over the top in some sequences.  Okay, who am I kidding?  It goes WAY over the top in most sequences.  Ha ha.  However, that should not discourage you from having a good time here.  I applaud Universal for releasing both cuts of the film and also putting them on separate 4K UHD discs.  There are also plenty of extras to keep you busy for a whole hour.  So if you’re a fan of The Fall Guy, having seen it in theaters and all, I recommend this one as a BUY for your collection.  Until next time…I cannot get the Fall Guy TV show theme song out of my head.  It’s a classic!  FWIW…it is included in the ending credits here, but it has been butchered by Blake Shelton to reflect the present.

The Fall Guy “Falls” on 4K Disc

Tomorrow, July 23rd…

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