MOVIE REVIEW! - 'Road House' (2024)

'Road House' (2024)

As usual, I do try to stay away from most spoilers, but I do have to talk about the movie to a certain degree, so take this as a SPOILER WARNING! If you just want to see my rating, just scroll on down to the bottom, check it out, then get out of here. If you want to read the article, though, I hope you enjoy!

Director Doug Liman and star Jake Gyllenhaal have brought us “Road House”, a new version of the 1989 cult film of the same name that starred Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliott. Gyllenhaal plays a new version of Dalton as a former UFC fighter who has had a troubled past. He drifts from place to place getting money on the underground fighting circuit.

One day, he is approached by Frankie (Jessica Williamson), a woman who owns a bar in the Florida Keys simply called “The Road House”. She is having trouble with a motorcycle gang and wants Dalton to come in and clean up the place as a bouncer. Once Dalton gets there, though, he realizes that there is more going on than Frankie initially let on.

This was a remake that I wasn’t really onboard with and probably would have skipped, if I’m being honest. But since it premiered on Amazon Prime, I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. Much to my surprise, I can now say that I actually liked the new “Road House”. This has a lot to do with the movie’s star.

Gyllenhaal is genuinely great as Dalton, bringing out his angry side when needed but being surprisingly humorous, especially when he describes what he’s going to do to those who dare to fight him. Keep in mind, though, that if the movie didn’t star Gyllenhaal, then there is a high chance that this movie would have simply fallen on its face as Gyllenhaal is definitely doing the heavy lifting throughout the movie.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Dalton in a new version of 'Road House'!

The story is pretty simple, but it is also over-the-top, but this was also true of the original film. Still, in spite of being intentionally crazy at times, there are a couple of moments where I found myself thinking, “Okay, that was a little absurd.” This is especially true during the film’s third act.

That aside, my only other problem with the movie is that it does overuse CGI at times even with the fights. The fights are pretty good on their own, but weird and unrealistic camera moves can take you out of the action for a few seconds. Neither the film’s over-the-top nature or the use of CGI is enough to totally derail the movie though.

There are characters that I liked such as Frankie and Hannah Lanier’s Charlie and the workers at the Road House. They make you want to root for Dalton when he tries to protect them and the bar. The main villain, a rich asshole named Brandt and played by Billy Magnussen, is a bit generic but let’s face it, the villain in the original was pretty much a cookie cutter villain as well and Magnussen plays the part well enough.

Conor McGregor plays Knox, the man hired to take Dalton out, and he definitely understood the assignment. He understood the humorous tone this movie takes in order for the movie’s more outrageous moments to be more easily accessible. He’s big, he’s loud, he’s obnoxious, and he does a good job being the opposite of Gyllenhaal’s more quiet Dalton.

Ultimately, is this movie going to be remembered as much as the original film? Probably not, but thanks to a great starring performance by Gyllenhaal and some decent fight scenes in spite of the CGI use, I say again that I find myself surprised to be able to say the following sentence… I liked the new ‘Road House’.