Directed By Doug Liman

Starring – Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Conor McGregor

The Plot – Ex-UFC fighter Dalton (Gyllenhaal) takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems.

Rated R for violence throughout, pervasive language and some nudity

Road House – Official Trailer | Prime Video (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Most remakes or reimagining materialize without a single ounce of heart or homage to the films they’re covering, but Liman, clearly a fan of the 1989 Patrick Swayze original, imbeds his own brand of intensity and artistry to the proceedings, cementing a modern day remake with an abundance of pulse to the proceedings that, if nothing else, makes this a fun engagement. On the side of improvements, the film’s action sequences are leaps and bounds better than their predecessor, with Liman repeatedly emphasizing suspense inside of physical confrontations that bare the brunt of every devastatingly impactful blow. The choreography here does feel a bit rehearsed and stage, mainly between Gyllenhaal and McGregor, but that doesn’t leave it any less indulging between the duo putting their bodies on the line, repeatedy time after time, and when combined with the scope and scale of high stakes devastation between crashing motor boats, vehicular manslaughter and high speed train derailment, Liman continues to connect to his audience in ways that are unrelenting in the depths of the mayhem he casually creates, crafting quite an unpredictable stage that his characters serve as the cumbustible ingredients towards. Also improving over the proceedings is the setting of the Florida Keys imbedding a seedily swampy grittiness to the canvas of the movie’s cinematography, which in turn leads to some pretty breathtaking establishing shots to make this feel like a bigger and bolder “Road House” in execution. While the bar itself is a bit suspect in generating that same slimy and sweaty consistency of its original, the film’s overwhelming emphasis in brutality makes it a ferociously dangerous place, full of lived-in emphasis and off-the-wall colorful characters of a bar variety that we’re all familiar with, at one time or another in our lives. Speaking of colorful characters, the performances are admittedly a mixed bag, but Gyllenhaal is a more than worthy successor to the no-nonsense brazen that Swayze dominated through during the original, with a physical transformation that has earned him the nickname “Jacked Gyllenhaal”. Aside from his physical capacities, Jake’s genuinely blunt deliveries to lines and corresponding realities supplants an effortless articulation to humor that does pay off effectively for his care-free brand of personality, but beyond that it’s the veterans presence that he commends over each scene that he accompanies that is perhaps most engaging, saying as much in a look or a reaction as McGregor does with a notebook full of punny one-liners and over-the-top intensity that often took me out of every scene he accompanied. It was also great to see “The Suicide Squad’s” Daniela Melchior once more, who brings elements of caustic wit and eye-opening clarity to the craziness that often engulfs her in established setting. Melchior’s Ellie is obviously reserved to the intended love interest for Gyllenhaal’s Dalton, throughout the film, but the refreshing evolutions of her character make her so much more than just another beautiful body for male audiences to gawk at, instead valuing her as the compass to Dalton’s suppressed anger over his past that does help us get closer to him as a protagonist than Swayze ever could in the 89′ original. Lastly, while the script in outline is about 80% reflective of the same movements in motion as its predecessor, I found the deviations in the ending to be much appreciated, especially in abandoning the conventions of conveniences that feel like a demand during movies with so many overwhelming stakes to the characters enveloped in them. Without spoiling anything, the actions of the characters do conjure reality within the closure of their resolutions, and as a result it’s not quite the happy ending that we expected for our colorful group of characters, instead opting for the refreshing journey towards clarity that ultimately ends the film in the same way it began; with one man’s quest to therapeutic closure.

NEGATIVES

In terms of underwhelming realities, “Road House” often gets in the way of its own spirited execution, with overanxious impacts and deliveries that attain the try-hard plunge of potential, as it seeks ways to constantly outdo the original in atmosphere. For about the first half of this movie, I was on board with its mostly serious demeanor, especially in outlining the arc of Dalton’s haunted backstory, but once McGregor’s Knox bursts onto the scene, the movie is shot with so much adrenaline that it strips away subtlety and nuance from the proceedings, in turn opting for the so-bad-it’s-good variety of filmmaking that demeans director’s credible effort to that point. McGregor himself is a truly awful actor, whose charisma and overwhelming energy to delivery is bold enough to fool people into thinking that he’s supplanting something endearing to the proceedings, but is actually robbing it of the thematic focus and developments needed to craft such a compelling narrative. McGregor often lacks conviction in the lines he delivers, making everything feel like a comedic question from a rambling drunk, especially in his search for Dalton, and while it’s great to have a wild card antagonist constantly appraise energy to his performance, the brand of such here feels distracting and overexuded for what is continuously asked of him during each scene. Equally distracting is the camera work during action sequences, with all of its stomach-churning nauseated movements that made it a chore to stay continuously invested in. This has always been an artistic issue for Liman, who tries to establish immersive emphasis to the many physical conflicts that dominate his pictures, but instead alienate with abrupt shifts and winding movements in and out of conflicts that obscure some otherwise pretty solid choreography, as well as bad C.G in effects that even sharp shifts can’t capably obscure. In addition to this, the supporting characters are almost entirely disposable, and even Gyllenhaal’s Dalton is given far too much backstory away from the main plot to ever match some of the iconic presences of characters, good and bad, from the first film. The problem from the former is easily distinguishible, as little to no time is spent fleshing them out in ways that feel integral to the engagement, and the latter periodically delves into Dalton’s time as a UFC fighter, which often repeats everything we know about him, to basically sell a commercial for the brand. Repetition is one thing, but halting the momentum of the storytelling is even worse, leaving “Road House” feeling every inch of the two hour run time, with frequent slow spots along the familiarity of the structure that would be better served to conjure something compelling, but instead revel in the abundance of time that could’ve and should’ve been spent as a single solitary sequence at the beginning of the film. Finally, and perhaps most offensively, this incarnation of “Road House” doesn’t live up to its name by almost entirely abandoning the bouncer culture that so much of its creative foundation was built upon, in turn lacking justification for why this particular film was remade in the first place. With the exception of one or two scenes involving Dalton teaching these bouncers how to effectively take charge of unruly customers, it’s never brought up once again throughout the duration of the experience, and considering it was that bouncer culture that so much of the politics and rivarly between bars spawned from during the first film, the absence of it here dramatically underscores momentum and meaning in ways that make it feel like quite literally any other film with a conflict and feuding characters.

OVERALL
“Road House” does pack a punch amid its stylistic ambition and intense action but lacks much of the distinguishable foundation of the iconic original, which succeeded prominently as a product of its time. Gyllenhaal gives his all in a performance that physically and emotionally fills the immense shoes that Swayze left behind, but the good times only come in small doses, with many undercooked arcs and alienating visual capacities leaving this the last call for this once spirited one-off.

My Grade: 6/10 or C