Movie Review: Road House

With the only real hockey event happening south of the border as the NCAA Women's Frozen Four gets underway, there was very little to hold my attention in the hockey world tonight. I take nothing away from the four teams participating in that tournament, but I have very spent very little time watching NCAA women's hockey this season so I feel zero affiliation to any team. Needing something to fill my time, I discovered the new Jake Gyllenhall flick was available on Amazon Prime, so I spent a couple of hours seeing if Gyllenhaal's version of Road House measured up to the original Patrick Swayze film.

If you came from hockey, here's that new direction I promised: I'm doing more things outside of hockey-related stories, so be prepared for more of these as the days slide off the calendar. One of the things I do enjoy is catching a film, and I had heard Jake Gyllenhaal on The Howard Stern Show last week where Stern and Gyllenhaal spoke about the film. Needless to say, I felt I needed to give it a chance.

Will it win any of the major Oscar award categories? I'm here to tell you that it won't, but it's an action-packed movie with Gyllenhaal playing a likable character in former UFC fighter Elwood Dalton. There are solid supporting performances from Daniela Melchior as Ellie and Hannah Love Lanier as Charlie, but I felt that Conor McGrgeor's choice as the villain thug Knox was long on physicality, but short on believable acting. Making up for McGregor's over-the-top portrayal of Knox was Billy Magnusson whose arc as the villain through the story as the kingpin of the criminal activity works well.

The movie was shot in the Dominican Republic, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any reason not to believe that it was filmed in the Florida Keys where the story is set. As a Canadian twist, Marvel movie score composer and conductor Christophe Beck was brought in to score the film after German composer Volker Bertelmann left the production in January 2024, and I can't say there was anything wrong with the music in the film. Again, it likely won't win Beck any awards, but the music he scored fit the various scenes in the movie.

If you like movies with action, this movie has a pile of scenes with Gyllenhaal either fighting for his life, fighting someone else, or fighting his own internal demons. While there is an underlying mystery to be solved when it comes to Billy Magnusson's Ben Brandt trying to put The Road House out of business, the movie certainly doesn't dive deep into that part of the story. Make no mistake that this film shows off a lean, muscular Gyllenhaal as an action star, and it achieves that well if that were the goal as Gyllenhaal physically looks the part. Beyond that, there's enough eye-rolling moments to make this film closer to an action-comedy than a pure action film, but the 121 minutes doesn't feel like it drags.

Doug Liman's direction in the movie works through some of the bumps the script seems to have, but Road House doesn't feel as polished as other action films he's directed such as The Bourne Identity and The Edge of Tomorrow. There are considerable camera shifts during the climactic fight scene between Gyllenhaal and McGregor that may leave one dizzy, and the use of CGI in the fight scenes makes them work, but the fight choreography feels less authentic than what was seen in another Liman feature, Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

While most of the main details are completely different, there's still an air of the original 1989 film in the movie as there are similar references made. Patrick Swayze's character is tormented by memories of a man he killed in self-defense while Jake Gyllenhaal's character has his own demons to face. There are knife injuries to the main character in both films, and both of the injuries allow the Dalton characters in each film to meet the love interest in the story. Again, no one will say this is a word-for-word, scene-for-scene remake in any way, but there are enough reference points that one can say that the 2024 film is loosely based on the 1989 film.

For all the quibbles I pointed out above, though, the movie moved at a good pace, and it didn't feel like you had to wait long for the next moment whether it was a goofy line from Gyllenhaal, him disarming a guy with a gun, or a brawl that needed solving. There were scenes where, as stated above, I eye-rolled at due to the execution, but Road House is two hours of goofy, semi-serious action schtick that should entertain you even if the story is fairly thin, the CGI feels clunky, and some of the lines are groaners.

Teebz's Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5 stars)

Road House is streaming exclusively on Prime Video. The movie was produced by Joel Silver for Amazon MGM Studios, and was released on March 21, 2024 only on the streaming platform. It is not scheduled to appear in theatres.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!