Directed by Doug Liman, Road House follows a troubled Ex-UFC fighter named Elwood Dalton (Jake Gyllenhaal) who takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems.
The 1989 original film may have not been exactly cinematic gold by any means but it has been largely considered a cult classic over the years for good reason, and looking back on it I think it was a fun cheesy action flick that had this charm to it that I couldn’t help but love. It was certainly a product of its time that reeks of the late 80s but it was relentlessly entertaining for its bonkers plot and of course its extremely likable lead actor, Patrick Swayze.
A remake or reimagining of Road House is not necessarily a bad idea in concept as it has the opportunity to massively improve upon the original film that was largely panned at the time, but one thing I think a lot of people wanted, myself included, was for that remake or reimagining to have just as much or even more fun and charm as the original did. Unfortunately, this 2024 reimagining by Doug Liman doesn’t do any of that and I will even go as far as to say this is actually worse than the 1989 original.
People can make as many arguments as they want on how this film is better on a technical level compared to the original but I think most people agree this completely lacks any of the passion and soul the original had. It had plenty of opportunities to be something insanely fun even if it wasn’t perfect but instead, the end result is a pointless reimagining that looks and feels like you’d find it in a bargain DVD bin.
Let’s get into why this version of Road House is a failure, starting off with the cast. Despite including some talented actors and actresses, a majority of the performances were largely boring and forgettable, with only a few standing out but for the wrong reasons. Jake Gyllenhaal delivered probably one of his most bland and unlikable performances to date as Elwood Dalton. It is a bit shocking given how talented Jake Gyllenhaal has proven himself to be many times in the past but here he just wasn’t that compelling or charming in the slightest compared to Patrick Swayze’s take on the character. While I can certainly praise the physical performance Jake puts on when it comes to the action, there just wasn’t anything of value he brought to this film as a lead.
It didn’t even seem like he was trying that much compared to Daniela Melchior as Ellie, who actually felt like she was trying with her performance but sadly is held back by incredibly subpar and cliche writing. She’s pretty much reduced to being the love interest of this film and not much more, which is a polar opposite of Kelly Lynch’s character from the original, who I felt had much more of an impact on Dalton as a person and the story.
But by far the worst cast member of this film that stood out the most due to his god-awful and over-the-top performance was Conor McGregor as Knox. Whether you love or hate him as a UFC fighter there is no denying that he truly can’t act for shit! He was clearly given no firm direction on what to do other than to act like an insane brute-like villain for this film, and it all comes off as just a complete train wreck of a performance that showcases Conor’s complete lack of acting talent.
Bad writing certainly plays a part in this terrible performance but I think most who watch him in this film will agree with me on how over the top and aimless he is in this and not in a fun way. He is certainly physically intimidating and does deliver some pretty solid action work as one would expect but that’s literally all he’s good for in this film and nothing else. He would have been better off just being a silent henchman for the entire film to be completely honest.
The rest of the performances from the supporting cast are flat-out forgettable. They weren’t necessarily terrible acting-wise but there just wasn’t anything memorable about their performances or their characters. However, there were at times some really awkward line readings and ADR that sounded extremely AI-generated, which seemingly proves the recent allegations made against the film about the use of AI to replicate certain actors’ voices during the film’s production. If this truly was the case then shame on Doug Liman and the studio for even thinking of including it.
At least with the original film, I remember a majority of the cast and characters even if their performances were cheesy as hell. This cast completely lacks any sort of charm or heart, which can also be said about the film’s story and writing. While I can credit it for actually trying to be a reimagining and not a frame-by-frame remake of the 1989 original it ends up being soulless and dumb with its writing. It initially started out being fun but quickly falls off after that with endlessly dumb decisions and sequences that take what could have been a fun grounded story into a careless mess with nothing remotely interesting for me to care about.
Now I must make it clear that I am not against dumb fun or mindless entertainment films as there have been many of those kinds of films that I have highly enjoyed, but this film doesn’t fit that category for me personally as it was just not fun at all with its story and came off as mostly boring.
The only time I had slight amounts of fun in this film was with the action involving the brutal brawls because at least they were the one thing handled with any sort of passion in this entire film. The fight choreography is excellent and the way the fights are shot are also really well done, as well as creatively making use of the cast’s talents and the surroundings.
These brawls are all really well executed on a technical level, but the same can’t be said for the rest of the film’s action which includes some of the worst CGI I have seen from an Amazon Prime film project in a long time. You’d think that after such amazing visual projects like Fallout or The Boys, this film would receive the same amount of effort with its effects as those from the same studio but evidently we did not. The practical work in this film is fine but the CGI is absolutely atrocious and really takes you out of some of the larger action sequences of this film.
Other technical elements such as the cinematography and the music are better in comparison but again, there’s nothing that notable about them. The cinematography for the fights is great but the rest of the film doesn’t stand out as visually, aside from some beautiful shots of the Florida Keys. Also despite the inclusion of the excellent Christophe Beck not a single note of music from this film stood out to me or was even remotely memorable.
Aside from improved action, this 2024 reimagining of a beloved cult classic is actually inferior to the original, when it instead it had the opportunity to be the superior version. It makes creative changes to the story and characters but doesn’t make them compelling or fun enough to ever really care about, making it feel like one of those cheap and forgettable films that you’d find in a bargain bin at a Walmart. Again the 1989 version of this film may not be cinematic gold but my lord it had soul and heart to it, which is more than can be said about this version. Definitely not worth wasting your time on and I am definitely not going to be seeing the recently announced sequel either. I’m going to give Road House (2024) a D = 64.
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