If you’re anything like me, when you heard Jake Gyllenhaal would be starring in a remake of “Road House,” you probably thought … why?
1989’s “Road House” is the type of movie that simply doesn’t exist anymore, a trash action masterpiece that gets more ridiculous as the minutes tick by (it was directed by a guy whose name is literally Rowdy – how could we expect anything less?). “Road House” is one of the more boisterous works in the 80s action canon, and what makes it work, miraculously, is the movie star at its center, Patrick Swayze.
As Dalton, a somehow world-famous bouncer (nay, cooler) called in to clean up the scumbag reputation of a roadside bar called the Double Deuce, Swayze delivers on everything that made him special as a movie star. His version of the character is cool as a cucumber, sensitive and soulful, with an underlying physicality that’s akin to a jungle cat. Against all odds, he is able to ground “Road House” – a movie in which someone drives a monster truck through a car dealership window, Ben Gazzara throws naked pool parties, and Swayze himself literally rips a man’s throat out – with an intensity and earnestness that’s difficult to overstate.
So, how could one make “Road House” in this day and age? The trick is to not try and be too much like the original. “Road House” feels more akin to something like 2008’s “Never Back Down” than it does its source material, albeit with better actors at the helm (for the most part). It’s not perfect, or really even great, by any means, but it does fit comfortably into the oeuvre of the trashy, Florida cinema canon, with all the sweaty, goofy action that entails. Gyllenhaal does not have the same strengths as Swayze, and thankfully, the movie does not try to fit his version of Dalton into that mold. Instead, the filmmakers let Gyllenhaal do what Gyllenhaal does best – be a charismatic psychopath.
2024’s “Road…
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