There’s been so much conflict behind the scenes of the new Road House remake that the fighting on-screen almost pales by comparison. Last month, R. Lance Hill, a writer on the original 1989 film, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the companies behind the remake, MGM Studios and its parent, Amazon Studios. Meanwhile, Doug Liman, the director of the remake, has publicly blasted Amazon for bypassing theaters and giving the movie a streaming-only release.
I can’t help but empathize with Liman. His Road House isn’t a great movie by any stretch, but what pleasures it has are best experienced on a big screen in a packed house. The original Road House did decent theatrical business back in 1989, before becoming a cult classic on home video. Watching it today, you can see why: It’s dumb and satisfying, a straight-no-chaser shot of sex and violence. And Patrick Swayze remains irresistible as Dalton, a strong, silent, frequently bare-chested bar bouncer who gets sucked into a crowd-pleasing maelstrom of small-town mayhem.
The remake, written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, mostly sticks to the original template. In this version of the story, Dalton, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship star who’s fallen on tough times. He’s run out of options when he’s offered a job cooling down the riff-raff at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys. When he shows up, he teaches the other bouncers to de-escalate the violence that flares up night after night among the bar’s very mean, very drunk patrons.
Even so, Gyllenhaal’s Dalton feels like less of a pacifist than Swayze’s, and he’s not afraid to stir up trouble. At one point, a nasty biker gang shows up and starts wreaking havoc inside the roadhouse. Dalton lures them outside and gives them the chance to walk away. They mock him, clearly not knowing what they’re dealing with.
This isn’t the first time Gyllenhaal has played an ultra-shredded fighter, as he did in the 2015 boxing melodrama Southpaw. His Dalton is a pretty standard-issue protagonist, complete with a troubled past that haunts his dreams. But Gyllenhaal, who’s always brought a touch of wild energy even to his good-guy roles, makes those demons more convincing than you’d expect.
None of the other actors are especially persuasive, except Jessica Williams as the roadhouse’s tough-minded owner. As a snarling hit man who tries to take Dalton down, the Irish professional fighter Conor McGregor does make an impression, in the same way a wrecking ball makes an impression.
My favorite performance is given by a hungry crocodile who makes short work of one of the more annoying members of the cast and gives the movie some authentic Florida flavor.
Probably my favorite performance is given by a hungry crocodile who makes short work of one of the more annoying members of the cast and gives the movie some authentic Florida flavor. Most of the other key characters have been recycled from the first film, from the flirty doctor who gives Dalton more than strictly medical attention to the wealthy villain who has his own designs on the roadhouse.
But for all its attempts to recapture the B-movie spirit of the original, this Road House winds up stuck somewhere in the middle, caught between unironic ’80s homage and a more wised-up contemporary sensibility. In the first Road House, there was nearly as much free-flowing sex as there was violence; here, the violence has been amped up to even more bone-crunching extremes, while the sole instance of nudity is played strictly for laughs. And some of the dialogue feels too arch and knowing, like when a friendly local compares Dalton to a character in a Western.
As we’ve seen from his earlier movies, the best of which include The Bourne Identity and Edge of Tomorrow, Liman is a more-than-capable director of action. The bar brawls here are well choreographed and cleanly shot, and the fighting encompasses everything from intimate fisticuffs to grander-scale set-pieces.
But there’s something too artificial about the action, with its often distractingly obvious CGI touch-ups. I saw Road House at a screening in a theater, and it’s possible the technical flaws were magnified on the big screen in a way that they won’t be on your TV. Even so, it’s too bad that audiences won’t get a chance to decide for themselves.
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Transcript:
DAVE DAVIES, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. In the new action movie “Road House,” Jake Gyllenhaal plays an ex-professional fighter who’s hired to maintain order at a rough bar in the Florida Keys. It’s a remake of the 1989 action movie of the same title starring Patrick Swayze. It’s now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Our film critic Justin Chang has this review.
JUSTIN CHANG, BYLINE: There’s been so much conflict behind the scenes of the new “Road House” remake that the fighting onscreen almost pales by comparison. Last month R. Lance Hill, a writer on the original 1989 film, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the companies behind the remake, MGM Studios and its parent, Amazon Studios. Meanwhile, Doug Liman, the director of the remake, has publicly blasted Amazon for bypassing theaters and giving the movie a streaming-only release. I can’t help but empathize with Liman. His “Road House” isn’t a great movie by any stretch, but what pleasures it has are best experienced on a big screen in a packed house. The original “Road House” did decent theatrical business back in 1989 before becoming a cult classic on home video. Watching it today, you can see why. It’s dumb and satisfying, a straight-no-chaser shot of sex and violence. And Patrick Swayze remains irresistible as Dalton, a strong, silent, frequently bare-chested bar bouncer who gets sucked into a crowd-pleasing maelstrom of small-town mayhem.
The remake, written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, mostly sticks to the original template. In this version of the story, Dalton, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship star who’s fallen on tough times. He’s run out of options when he’s offered a job cooling down the riff raff at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys. When he shows up, he teaches the other bouncers to deescalate the violence that flares up night after night among the bar’s very mean, very drunk patrons. Even so, Gyllenhaal’s Dalton feels like less of a pacifist than Swayze’s, and he’s not afraid to stir up trouble. At one point, a nasty biker gang shows up and starts wreaking havoc inside the roadhouse. Dalton lures them outside and gives them the chance to walk away. They mock him, clearly not knowing what they’re dealing with.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “ROAD HOUSE”)
JAKE GYLLENHAAL: (As Elwood Dalton) Hey. What’s your name?
J D PARDO: (As Dell) Dell.
GYLLENHAAL: (As Elwood Dalton) Dell, you don’t have to do this, man. You don’t have to lose. You’re going to lose in front of all your friends.
PARDO: (As Dell) In front of. Oh, they’re not here to just watch.
GYLLENHAAL: (As Elwood Dalton) Oh, cool. Well, that’s hardly fair.
PARDO: (As Dell) Life’s not fair.
(SOUNDBITE OF HAND SLAPPING)
GYLLENHAAL: (As Elwood Dalton) Ooh, I just slapped you. Are you all right? What?
(SOUNDBITE OF HANDS SLAPPING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Come on, Dell. Get him.
(CROSSTALK)
GYLLENHAAL: (As Elwood Dalton) Let’s call this a draw.
PARDO: (As Dell) What’s a [expletive] draw?
GYLLENHAAL: (As Elwood Dalton) It’s kind of like a win, man.
PARDO: (As Dell) Like I win?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) It’s a tie, Dell.
GYLLENHAAL: (As Elwood Dalton) Yeah. Like, we win together, you know?
CHANG: This isn’t the first time Gyllenhaal has played an ultra-shredded fighter, as he did in the 2015 boxing melodrama “Southpaw.” His Dalton is a pretty standard-issue protagonist, complete with a troubled past that haunts his dreams. But Gyllenhaal, who’s always brought a touch of wild energy even to his good guy roles, makes those demons more convincing than you’d expect. None of the other actors are especially persuasive, except Jessica Williams as the roadhouse’s tough-minded owner. As a snarling hitman who tries to take Dalton down, the Irish professional fighter Conor McGregor does make an impression in the same way a wrecking ball makes an impression. Probably my favorite performance is given by a hungry crocodile, who makes short work of one of the more annoying members of the cast and gives the movie some authentic Florida flavor.
Most of the other key characters have been recycled from the first film, from the flirty doctor who gives Dalton more than strictly medical attention to the wealthy villain who has his own designs on the roadhouse. But for all its attempts to recapture the B-movie spirit of the original, this “Road House” winds up stuck somewhere in the middle, caught between unironic ’80s homage and a more wised-up contemporary sensibility. In the first “Road House,” there was nearly as much free-flowing sex as there was violence. Here, the violence has been amped up to even more bone crunching extremes, while the sole instance of nudity is played strictly for laughs. And some of the dialogue feels too arch and knowing, like when a friendly local compares Dalton to a character in a Western.
As we’ve seen from his earlier movies, the best of which include “The Bourne Identity” and “Edge Of Tomorrow,” Liman is a more than capable director of action. The bar brawls here are well-choreographed and cleanly shot, and the fighting encompasses everything from intimate fisticuffs to grander-scale set pieces. But there’s something too artificial about the action, with its often distractingly obvious CGI touch-ups. I saw “Road House” at a screening in a theater, and it’s possible the technical flaws were magnified on the big screen in a way that they won’t be on your TV. Even so, it’s too bad that audiences won’t get a chance to decide for themselves.
DAVIES: Justin Chang is a film critic for The New Yorker. He reviewed “Road House,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal. On Monday’s show, we speak with Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, co-founders of the band Sleater-Kinney. Rolling Stone called them the best American punk rock band ever. While they were working on their latest album, “Little Rope,” Brownstein’s mother died in an auto accident. They’ll talk about how grief affected their music and what it’s like to make music together for decades. I hope you can join us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT”)
SLEATER-KINNEY: (Singing) Go softly with me. My heart is raw. Too many losses have left me down.
DAVIES: FRESH AIR’S executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham, with additional engineering support from Joyce Lieberman, Julian Hertzfeld and Diana Martinez. For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, I’m Dave Davies.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT”)
SLEATER-KINNEY: (Singing) Say it like you mean it. I need to hear it before you go. Say it like you mean it. This goodbye hurts when you go.