Film Review – Road House (2024)

The potential audience for “Road House” probably has no idea the feature is a remake. The 1989 Rowdy Herrington original was a rough-and-ready drive-in picture for the 1980s, exploring bad attitudes and bare-knuckle enlightenment, becoming wonderfully trashy entertainment with A-film technical achievements and B-movie atmosphere. It also offered perfect casting, with the late Patrick Swayze fully understanding the acting assignment, bringing a duality of strength and wisdom to the character of Dalton. For 2024, Jake Gyllenhaal tries to create a different Dalton for a new “Road House,” which takes its lead from the world of MMA fighting. Director Doug Liman offers lovely locations and some bar fights, but he’s not really trying to recapture the flavor of the 1989 endeavor, making more of a video game-esque viewing experience instead, aiming to be sillier with the premise. It’s not that the first “Road House” is high art, but it had a defined vibe and fantastic execution. Liman is just making a technical exercise in search of real cinematic conflict. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com