Action heroes don’t always need to be binary. Some can come with the greyest of shadings to add a little nuance and intrigue to any story, and there’s no doubt there are plenty of those in the history of cinema.
More prevalently, as is the case with the action genre, it’s always fascinating to see how anti-heroic protagonists redeem themselves. It’s not unfamiliar territory either, which makes it all the more challenging to see how directors manage to craft their films around such characters.
Doug Liman’s Road House is a timely example of this as the term elucidated in the headline takes its cues from an introductory scene where Daniela Melchior’s character approaches that of our lead, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, after he escorts a group of thugs he just dismantled to the hospital.
As the story reveals, Gyllenhaal’s role, per the titular film’s remake basis on the 1989 hit starring Patrick Swayze, sees today’s iteration of the character as a tortured soul in the time since killing a friend in the ring. His reputation precedes him as a result, living an inglorious life and fallen from grace until he’s offered a job to work at a bar in the Florida Keys where he finds his limits of restraint tested in a series of violent encounters.
What follows is the inevitable resolve that comes with the burden of being a violent man, challenged by antagonistic figures who insist on choosing violence against all reason, and it’s pretty much the centerpiece of what the film proffers for fans of any and all who love martial arts action and enjoy the pre-existing classic on one degree or another.
There are key areas of the film that provide a good framework as to how a character like Elwood Dalton functions. As the story begins, we know he prefers to use his reputation as a lynchpin for moneymaking. He naturally puts fear in most of the people who confront him simply by just talking calmly. Moreover, it takes a LOT to irk him, so when we see him fatally throatpunch someone and start stacking bodies, we understand weight behind it and what it took for him to get there.
Granted, this is just one of the motivations for the film’s mixed reviews and reactions from viewers. Some are to do with the film’s delivery as a whole. Other arguments delve into nitpick territory on matters of CG.
The list probably goes on longer than that, but more importantly, I felt like making a different kind of outline in celebration of the kind of anti-hero that films like Road House posit. This won’t be a whole list of every film in existence and probably won’t be a complete one given readers’ tastes, and so you’re all welcome to chime in via the comment thread below or @ me on the socials where available. Come at me!
Lead photo: Prime Video
