THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Road House has been one of those 80s cult classics you won’t know if you’ll enjoy it until you see it yourself. With Patrick Swayze turning down a sequel before he passed away, audiences wondered if there would ever another round of such a setting. Lucky for us, Hollywood’s reliance on nostalgia came around in long overdue when choosing to provide a remake it with a whole new story that might arguably be better than the original.
PLOT
The 2024 adaptation follows former UFC fighter Elwood Dalton, who now makes a living scamming fighters in the underground circuit after his last pay per view ended horribly, where he was overcome with rage that he beat his opponent to death in the octagon. He is hired by a woman named Frankie to be head bouncer for her titular bar in the community of Glass Key. He accepts the deal only after narrowing averting a suicide attempt. Upon arriving, he quickly befriends a teenager named Charlie (Hannah Love Lier) who runs a bookstore with her widowed father Stephen (Kevin Carroll). Good progress would be made at the Road House as he would mentor the other bouncers and become popular with the locals. He even stands up a biker gang led by a criminal named Dell, who works for local crime boss Ben Brandt. After first injuring him and his gang in a fight, he kindly takes them to a hospital. There, he would meet a doctor named Ellie who would tend to his wounds. Dell would try to do right by Brandt by trying to kill Dalton and fails twice. The first attempt would involve him trying to run him over, which he fails. In the second where he holds him at gunpoint waiting in Frankie’s boat where the fighter takes shelter in, he is thrown out and eaten by a crocodile. With such a mishap, mafia enforcer Knox is brought in by Brandt’s incarcerated father to deal with the situation. After a date with Ellie in which she makes clear she doesn’t define him by his past, he would meet her father Sheriff ‘Big Dick’ who tries intimidating him to leave due to being on Brandt’s payroll. But he continues to stay when Ellie defends him. The following night, Brandt would visit the bar to taunt Dalton of his past, only to allow Knox to trash the Road House before badly beating the protagonist to a bar fight. Frankie would then confess she is the lone holdout that’s preventing Brandt from building an expansive resort which is close to finalizing due to buying up other properties in the area. Dalton would consider leaving, but then chooses to stay when discovering Stephen & Charlie to have been sent in a hospital after Brandt’s men burnt down their bookstore. He then kills one of Brandt’s goons, frames the deputy for murder, and stashes illicit cash the crime lord tends to use for the resort. After this, Big Dick warns him that Brandt has taken Ellie hostage and will free her once the money is returned. Rather than returning the money, Dalton instead brings explosives first brought by Knox and left at the goons’ clubhouse. He then uses them to get the upper hand in attempt to save Ellie and escape with her. In the same efforts, Brandt would recapture her while Knox re-emerges and tries to finish off Dalton as he was hired to. His efforts backfire on a skiff boat, leading to the protagonist crashing onto Brandt’s escape boat. He and Ellie would jump off before the crime lord crashes into the Road House. He survives the crash and tries to kill Dalton himself. That changes when Knox catches up and kills his employer’s son out of annoyance. He almost succeeds in getting the job done by stabbing his stomach with a shard of wood. However, Dalton is able to overpower him and kill him first with fatal stabs with the same stab. Big Dick would catch up and tell Dalton he’ll cover up his involvement as long as he leaves town. Frankie would plan to rebuild the bar and continue her family generation of business upon the aftermath of conflict that occurred. Dalton would say goodbye to the likes of the Ellie and Charlie and once he takes the coach-bus out of town, Stephen would be stunned to see the same illicit cash the protagonist intentionally left behind for them to rebuild the bookstore. The film would however end in a shocking post credit revealing Knox to have survived his wounds and leaves the hospital in a gown likely planning to go after Dalton again.
THOUGHTS
Since the preceding film has its own expectations, there was no way copy-pasting it would work no matter how beneficial modernization would suit it. Director Doug Liman and the writing team of Anthony Bagarozzi, R Lance Hill & Chuck Mondry knew the stakes on making an entertaining adaptation without being disrespectful. The 180 that was done to keep us on the edge of our seats pays off in a big way because the whole time I was hooked from start to finish. The fight scenes were what defined the first film due to being so damn fun to look back on and this one recaptures that feeling, but differentiates for feeling like an adrenaline rush due to how the editing & cinematography make such a better pacing. All of that makes them each sequence get grander one by one until we reach the finale. It's hard to fill in boots left behind by an icon Swayze was in his time, but Jake Gyllenhaal is able to respectfully make the role of Dalton his own. This is a guy that hit rock bottom for a mistake he made and he grounds himself from ever repeating it. He chooses to let loose on his limits when necessary because he has to do the absolute when called upon. What happened troubled him deeply because his last opponent was allegedly his friend and was apparently too riled up to stop like he normally would. Seeing him redeem himself when protecting the bar by standing up to Brandt and company proves the central theme of how you can be a better version of yourself no matter how mighty you have fallen. Gyllenhaal does a great job embracing this through his superb performance and it doesn't work without it. While Gyllenhaal carries this film for sure, he is not the only one to keeping things interesting. I was surprised of the gender swap on Frankie because they didn't make a big deal about it in the marketing. I don't have a problem with it because I respect its efforts to be further different from the past. Jessica Williams was cool because she has that same mythos Kevin Tighe brought from before. She pays off in being a more stern figure because the bar is all she has and refuses to give it up, which defends why she gave Dalton a chance when no one else would have. She's brave enough to stick it out with Brandt for as long as he did every time he took matters in his own hands. You gotta respect her open mindedness for still being open after what happened in the climactic conflict because it ain't easy promoting yourself when in a mess. For someone who saw the original in advance, it was not hard to know Ellie was short Elizabeth. Daniela Melchior was cool to have as she brought a stronger spunk that was done before. Like Frankie, she holds her ground with what she has to say and doesn't hold her punches when it comes to saying what has to be said. And I think she gives Dalton a chance because she was able to pick up how much warmth he had from his heart deep down and Dalton pursued her in return despite hesitance because he appreciated how she looked past his great flaw. It is a shame that circumstances made them separate, but there is no doubt they won't forget each other as they arguably changed their lives for the better. Since Wesley was one hell of a villain back then for being a power hungry prick, so it wasn't hard for Brandt to hit that bar since Billy Magnussen was dead on in making him an arrogant guy who definitely let his ambitions and his undeserving power get the best of him. he tried everything he could to have his way and it blew up in his face. There is no sympathy when he gets killed by his own muscle because that is what happens you claim control when you know you're nowhere close. Now JD Pardo sparked the fire when playing the ignorant Dell, but it's really Conor McGregor that changes the tone for the better as Knox. The guy was an enigma that makes him without a doubt imposing which is not what you want out of a formidable henchman. It is a relief that Dalton stopped him long enough to escape, but seeing him survive only makes a new level of trouble no one will be ready for the way they think they would. However, a rematch would indeed be entertaining should there ever be a sequel. I don’t kid when I say I enjoyed this film more than I should, but even I was able to admit there’s things that felt so illogical to me to the point where I would understand why others prefer the original. For starters, I know movies bend reality a whole lot, especially this genre, but how the hell does the crowd in the opening not know who Dalton is when he reveals himself to the opposing fighter Carlton (Austin Post/Post Malone)? For a guy that was a popular athlete that committed murder, there should’ve been an eruption upon recognition. If I’m gonna start digging, I’m debating what was more unrealistic of a situation then Dalton surviving the car crash or Brandt surviving the boat crash he caused. At least they try keeping it grounded when Dell dies from the croc attack. Speaking of which, where were the sharks in the area? The setting of the town appears to be Florida, so I wouldn’t rule out sharks if crocs were present. If we’re gonna keep pointing out how stupid Brandt is, how about getting a neck shave while on a sailing boat? That is bound to not go his way. Knox had some sense when bringing explosives with him to destroy the bar, but why didn’t he sneak them in after closing time? If his job was to get rid of the bar, he should’ve done that instead of driving around. That decision was more confusing than trying to figure out how he found Brandt’s yacht. If he had a tracker, that should’ve been mentioned/acknowledged. And lastly I admit Dalton was smart to blame of Big Dick’s deputies, but I’m surprised he didn’t wipe off his fingerprints since he used the gun to stage the scene. If he did offscreen, it would’ve not hurt for that to be clarified either. Other than that, this movie was still hella fun. In short, 2024’s Road House is one of those remakes you don’t expect to exceed expectations until it does. If you got Prime Video and have high admiration for the original film, I hope you enjoy this one as well like I did.
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