| Director | Doug Liman |
| Writers | Anthony Bagarozzi, Charles Mondry |
| Based On | Road House by David Lee Henry & Hilary Henkin |
| Cast | Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida, Conor McGregor, Lukas Gage, Arturo Castro, B.K. Cannon, Beau Knapp, Darren Barnet, Dominique Columbus |
| Runtime | 120 minutes |
| Genre | Action, Thriller |
– No Spoilers –
James Dalton is a disgraced ex-UFC fighter who takes up the job of a bouncer in Florida Keys which turns out to be a more difficult job than just getting rid of drunkards who like to cause havoc. Now pulled into a fight to not only keep the bar alive but to keep corruption and everything that comes with it at bay, Dalton needs to keep his wits about him to face a nemesis that refuses to back down without a fight.
Road House is that campy movie that you watch when you have nothing to do on a weekend and have finished the latent binge session and now have nothing to do. The movie is quick and silly and takes itself not seriously at first, which is when it works as a fun and forgettable affair. Cliched storylines and shallow characters are sometimes oddly comforting to watch when the movie knows what it’s doing but this one soon gets into territories it really shouldn’t have, considering it has nothing to show for the seriousness.
A retelling of the 1989 movie of the same name starring Patrick Swayze, Jake Gyllenhaal has big shoes to fill in this movie. And in that aspect, he slays – he looks great, has a body that proves that he was a UFC fighter and has the correct amount of nonchalance that truly makes him a fun protagonist for most of the runtime. Unfortunately, that’s about it when it comes to him as a character. The characters other than Conor McGregor and Billy Magnussen don’t really matter much; if anything, they bloat the runtime with unnecessary conversations that don’t go anywhere.
These two other characters are the complete opposite of Dalton, as in they are absolutely batsh*t insane. Magnussen and McGregor are actually quite fun to watch if you’re in the mood for a fun time and want to watch two people be the most insane, cartoonish antagonists in a movie of this genre. It’s actually quite funny to watch their antics which are completely opposite to what Dalton gets into. Neither is well-thought out but sometimes it’s fun to watch madness on screen.
On the other hand, the clear love interest from the moment that she’s on screen, Daniela Melchior’s character Ellie is just so underutilized and taken advantage of that it’s almost insulting to watch. Every female character in this movie is used to further Dalton’s storyline and they are only spectators in this story that are NPCs just hanging around till we get rid of them. Even their relationship is a total dud and there’s no chemistry or passion.
As an action-thriller, the heart of the movie is its action sequences. There clearly are quite a few and Dalton constantly gets into fights with someone or another. Gyllenhaal does his job well for the most part and some of the fights are rather fun, quick and smooth. But for a better part of the runtime, the action sequences are cringy and forgettable and the CGI sequences are rather horrid. After the first few fights, you quickly realise that the movie is trying its least to actually make some effort with itself in any department but maybe by that time you simply don’t care either.
I think what I hated most was that the antagonist, especially McGregor, fights and disrupts just because he’s a sociopath or a psychopath (or some path). It’s usually really boring when people don’t have a specific reason for why they are who they are and for Road House 2024, it’s pretty clear that the motivation was just to walk around the road naked and burn things to the ground because it’s funny or something. Villains gonna villain and stuff.
Road House Review (2024): Conclusion
Forgettable and very camp, there’s something about Road House that isn’t just silly but entertaining because it is just so stupid. I mean, we all want to watch a good action film with gritty characters and whatnot but sometimes it’s these movies that make you shut off your brain and just cringe pretty hard that scratch that specific itch.
For anything else, however, watch the first one. Swayze can never be a bad idea.
Road House 2024 will stream on Amazon Prime Video from March 21, 2024.
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