The Fall Guy promises and delivers plenty of thrills and action

The Fall Guy. M. 126 minutes. Three stars.

If you're familiar with mid-1980s American TV, you probably remember The Fall Guy. Durable TV star Lee Majors played Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stunt man who between jobs worked as a bounty hunter. With its catchy theme song (sung by Majors), light tone and stuntwork it was fun in that mindless '80s action TV way.

Now it's the latest in the long line of TV shows turned into movies. There aren't many direct connections to the film's source apart from the name of the main character and the fact he's a movie stunt man - and that it's enjoyable and full of action and not mentally taxing. It's like a throwback to the old-style action movie of the 1970s and '80s, with an emphasis on practical stunts (helped along by modern technology) and a desire to entertain.

Particularly interesting for local audiences is that it was shot in studios and on locations in Sydney - as Sydney, not standing in for a US city - and has a lot of Australians in the cast.

Ryan Gosling plays the movie's Colt, who is seriously injured when a movie stunt in which he's doubling for star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes awry. Eighteen months later Cole has recovered but has given up stunt work for valet parking. During his recovery he drove away Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), an ambitious crew member on that last film who had become his girlfriend.

He's surprised to receive a call from Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddington), producer of a movie shooting in Sydney. And not just any movie - Jody's directorial debut. Gail begs Colt to come back and double for Tom again, saying Jodie has asked for him. His old feelings rekindled, both for the work and for Jodie, off he goes.

On set, Ryder is still the same obnoxious jerk he always was and Jody, it turns out, is surprised and not particularly pleased to see him. But Colt gets to work.Then Ryder goes AWOL and, with many millions of dollars and Jody's career at stake, Colt sets out to track him down, juggling that, his stunt work, and his efforts to win Jodie back.

There are action scenes that take place on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and at the Opera House and in the harbour itself, a nice change from merely having the obligatory panoramic views of these attractions (though of course they are there too).

Drew Pearce's script is uneven - the scenes in which Colt and Jody are discussing their relationship tend to take place in moments of peril or on set in doublespeak and go on a bit and some of the self-referential material is a bit cutesy. But there's an overall sense of fun.

Credulity is stretched and the villain of the piece isn't hard to guess and the underlying scheme seems overly complicated but none of this really matters - it's not that kind of movie.

Director David Leitch is well suited to the material: he was a stunt man himself (for Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, among others) and his previous directorial efforts include John Wick. At over two hours, the film feels just a bit too long. But there are plenty of bright moments and things do keep happening - fights and falls and explosions and car rolls and much more, with an exciting climax. Gosling's charisma and vulnerability help keep the audience on his side and he works well with Blunt. Due credit has been given to Gosling's stunt performer, Logan Holladay, one of many who worked on the film.

Stay tuned through the credits for some behind-the-scenes footage, a rewritten version of the TV show's theme song, and a couple of fun cameos.