It’s been a little weird. Crazy, even. Reading about all that’s happened since Doug Liman’s Road House went into post-production was pretty troublesome. Reporters over at Variety did some good work in covering the fallout as well, and I kind of wonder if some long-term good could come from the film’s streaming release, even if at one point the director himself opined to the contrary in hopes of a theatrical opening.
I wouldn’t have minded a big screen presentation myself. Point in fact, I got a little overconfident when I RSVP’d to an event screening being hosted by Jazz At Lincoln Center with a two-person pass a few days ago; I had to reneg though, seeing as life is still lifeing at the moment. Ultimately, my only option would be to take in the film per access to Prime thanks to a friend. To that end, I guess the only question that’s left is, well, is it the “great big fun streaming movie” it was previously coined as?
Inevitably, time will tell how this film gets remembered in the months going forward. I regret the production’s aftermath was as troubling as has been reported. The good news, however, is that it hasn’t been for nothing. The word “remake” continues to draw the ire for many a netizen when it comes to film discourse, and for a number of reasons. Agreeably, there are tons of examples of this where opinions to the matter tend to be pretty damn out of pocket. Fans of the original material tend to guard-up, almost akin to that of overprotective parents or big siblings in fear of seeing the thing they love get abused or somehow mistreated. More prominently, those conversations are too often held far and wide, and WAY fucking early before the remake itself ever hits airspace. For good measure, if I spoke out of turn like this before Kickboxer: Vengeance and Kickboxer: Retaliation were released, I’d be no better than the hypocrites watching remakes they vowed never to.
The same goes for Liman’s latest revamp of the 1989 action classic directed by Rowdy Herrington, and heretofore storied and penned by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry who take their cues from David Lee Henry’s launchpad write-up. Like all remakes and reboots, the 2024 edition of Road House takes as many convenient liberties as it can to avoid regurgitating the original film so as to proffer up ample entertainment value, and stand on its own. That, it does, and in more ways than several, from the setting and story, to the characters and motivations, to the rejigging of scenarios that lead to certain story developments and the resulting fallouts that bring the film to its propulsive climax.
Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an ex-UFC champion fighter, fallen from glory and living in a car while coping with suicidal ideations, and scamming some quick cash in the interim. One evening he’s approached by Frankie (Jessica Williams) with a job offer to come down to help sustain the troubled Road House bar in Glass Key. Once there, save for a few friendly faces, it’s not too long before Dalton finds out that Glass Key isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and it’s an issue Frankie is forced to face daily as the usual rows of thugs and hooligans like to come, get drunk, break furniture, harass the workers, yell at the band, and even incite the occasional bar fight. Clearly it’s too much for the bar’s employees, and from that point on, Dalton decides to make an impression on the first night.
Not a moment too soon does Dalton’s name begin spreading like wildfire in the albeit “gossipy” town of Glass Key. That’s not exactly good news for designated rich bastard nepobaby Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen), a man with no compunction about hurting anyone he has to and/or paying anyone to do it for him. With his sights set on Frankie’s Road House, and the pressure from his overbearing father who is still in prison, Ben has to do whatever it takes to take the Road House down so he can acquire the land to his own nefarious end. That’s when hard-boiled Irish grafter Knox (Conor McGregor) trots in per the orders of Ben’s father to assist him, a move that only escaltes the upheaval and will force Dalton to take matters in his own hands.
The brilliance of this aspect of Road House is that Dalton’s hands are the last place he wants to take any matters that can’t be settled with words. More to the point, his pacifist approach to conflict resolution and generally stoic demeanor and minimalist lifestyle is not without its fair share of ghosts. Road House teases this in echos of flashbacks to his days as a professional fighter which helps peel back the layers of our weary protagonist whose charming smile and affability are the mask worn to hide the persona he fears will consume him. He can take just about any punch he can without a need to react, which serves as a testament to his level of control and awareness.
The film is keen to test those two things about our character, whether its in fisticuffs or moments of vulnerability and potential romance. Mere moments after laying waste to the first five dudes who mistakenly decided Dalton was worth having a problem with, the evening marks the jagged start of a friendship with Ellie (Daniela Melchior), a doctor at the hospital just twenty-five minutes away (a requisite factoid mentioned a few times throughout the movie.). As the movie progresses, the two embark on a hangout which Dalton least expects to be a date, and it’s the only moment we get to learn just a little more about our beleagured bouncer, apart from the story divulges and recurring imagery from his past. To its credit, the film also gets a little more into Ellie’s past, which is where “Big Dick” (Joaquim de Almeda) comes in, and I’ll just leave it at that.
Par for the course is how Dalton’s afflictions play out amid the escalation between himself and Brandt’s men, including and specifically Knox. Both pugilists square up several times in the film, the first of which takes place in the bar when after the scuffle lands outside and just moments before the cops arrive, Knox calls it like he sees it, telling him “There’s something wrong with you.” The script takes an interesting turn from there as it intends to illustrate both characters as equals as they are equally fucked up, which does leave you wondering about the depth in Knox’s own character development. Suffice it to say, while that isn’t so much the case beyond Knox’s swagger, boisterous demeanor and menacing, McGregor makes up for it with a script that allows him to embrace the palatable and entertaining antagonist that matches the prolific bad-boy persona he’s embodied in the limelight for his own althetic career.
The final tête-à-tête between our two stars is a plentiful fight finale that makes ample use of the spacing, camerawork and choreography. To start, the action definitely takes on something of a different approach. The fight design is a combination of stacked hits and techniques coupled with a few touch-ups to make the impact look full contact. The best and foremost example of this is in the trailer where Knox headbutts Dalton in a clash that actually looks like contact. Take from that tidbit what you will, but what we’re shown in the action speaks highly to the film’s stunt team, including Garret Warren and Steve Brown who’ve worked on films like Logan, Alita: Battle Angel and most recently, God Is A Bullet. One critic review of Liman’s Road House called the movie “ultraviolent.” I would suggest that it’s a little more tame than films like The Night Comes For Us and The Raid, although Liman does push the action movie violence envelope a time or several. Moreover, I’d say watching Dalton pull a Robert McCall as he throatpunches some poor fool and narrates his slow death is the kind of thing I wouldn’t dismiss. More or less, I’d say that was the brilliance behind Liman’s retread of this protagonist for this specific film, along with the casting of an actor who knuckled up in Southpaw, and exuded quiet terror in Nightcrawler. There’s a darkness in our hero that Liman ventures into more than Herrington does in his hero, and for that matter, both treatments work in their own way. Admittedly, there are some areas of odd scripting choices and moments where the film gets a little too silly for its own good.
Still, Road House presents a retread of familiar territory for a different take on a hit film that provides enough to win on its own merits. Needless to say, it won’t be enough for the purists burning tiki-torches in protest, but that’s fine. It’s the movie that matters, and it’s a movie that culminates its efforts with a few shocking twists to accomodate the added layers and refurbishments, and incumbent, brutal and thrilling action that provides Gyllenhaal and McGregor ample screentime as dueling enemies in their element. The ending itself is something that gives way to a continuation, and in my view, I would love to see it. Whether or not it’s at another “Road House” remains to be seen, but Gyllenhaal’s portrayal of the iconic screen hero birthed 35 years ago is definitely worth taking a gander at, and that’s something I can drink to.
Provided you’re not knee-deep in the behind-the-scenes featurettes of Road House, feel free to journey into the action and thrills now streaming on Prime Video.
Lead photo: Laura Radford/Prime Video