From Director Doug Liman comes Road House, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams,B.K. Cannon, Hannah Love Lanier & introducing Conor McGregor.  When the news that the 1989 Rowdy Herrington film Road House was headed for the remake treatment, of course much of the internet went mad and stamped their feet in outrage (they seemed to have forgotten that there was Road House 2: Last Call made back in 2006) “How dare they remake this ‘classic’ grumped the moany film fans”, “it will never be any good”, “leave it alone” were some of the war cries against the retelling of bouncer (a.k.a cooler) Daltons tale of cleaning up a bar and a town. Now I love the 1989 Road House, I did when I first saw the film back in the late 80s and still did last month when i rewatched the film. I’m a firm believer in the common sense attitude that a remake cant damage a previous film. Whether the remake it far better than the previous version or far worse than the previous film, it doesn’t damage the original film at all. So i went into the viewing of Doug Liman’s Road House this morning with a curiosity and looking forward to seeing the latest role for Jake Gyllenhaal. who I am a fan of and who as far as I recall, hasn’t made a film that I really didn’t enjoy.

Road House (2024) was such a fun film, it doesn’t do a full carbon copy of the 1989 film and doesn’t try to be a flat out remake of the Patrick Swayze starring film, Road House(2024) is its own thing. The basic foundations of the story are pretty much the same (but not quite), Dalton (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) takes a job offer from bar owner Frankie (played by Jessica Williams) to head to Glass Keys in Florida to help clean up her business from the rowdy bar fights and violence that is causing her business financial and actual damage. Agreeing to pay Dalton, $5000 a week for four weeks, Dalton gets on a bus, and heads to the small coastal town. its not long before Dalton sees that this bar has more trouble surrounding it (and in it) than just bar fights. So there you have it, the basis of the film is similar to the 1989 film but Road House (2024) is its own thing and should be looked at as its own thing. Comparing a remake to a previous version which you love is always a bit of a losing battle for the more modern film and if you can, don’t pit the films against each other. You can like one and love the other. That’s fine!

Road House (2024) is a fun, action packed, film, with a ton of one liners that made me laugh out loud. The cast are for the most really good. Jake Gyllenhaal is great casting as Dalton and his level of smart ass but with confidence dialogue right before he gives someone an ass whopping is so much fun. Jake definitely has most of the best lines when it comes to macho lines. Road House is also filled with really good and genuinely interesting side characters especially Laura (played by B.K. Cannon) who comes across as super likeable and genuine in her role as one of the staff at The Road House (yes the bar is named The Road House and there’s even a funny exchange about why its called The Road House), one of the side characters who did make me laugh pretty much every time they were on screen is Moe (played by Arturo Castro ) who really seems out of his depth being a henchmen and the lines he spits out are brilliant! Id love to have seen more Moe. Great work Arturo.

We cant mention Road House without mentioning that this is the screen debut of Conor McGregor. I have seen reviews of Road House that have been less than favourable to Conor and his role and whilst I’m not going to say an Oscar nomination is headed for Conor in the next Academy awards for Best Supporting Actor, This is his first film role so lets cut him a little bit of slack. Physically Conor fits really well in the film and fight scenes he is involved in (and there are a few) are really good. He is good casting as Knox, a character who is brought in to try balance the scales in this battle of Dalton v the bad guys. I was a little concerned when Knox first appears on screen part way through the film as the film did seem to skid a little off the road at that point (but only for a few moments)  and whilst Conor’s dialogue scenes are a little ropey in places, he does bring a sense of chaos to the story and by the end of the film you kinda learn to really like the role hes playing. Remember Ironbar (played by Angry Anderson) in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, well Knox is one of those types of characters, the seemingly unstoppable force that shows up, and dishes out violence. It did feel at times like Conor was in a different film than the rest of the cast which was a little jarring but that’s just a nit pick although I’m sure other reviews will spend much more time talking about that side of things than I will because this is the online world we live in now, where most films are leapt on by the snarky film fans (who don’t actually appear to remember how to enjoy a film for what it is- a couple of hours of escapism)  I preferred to get back to the fun I was having.

And I was having so much fun watching Road House and I can see myself watching this film now and again. Its silly, its action packed, its well shot (other than a couple of moments where you just know a character would have died from that sort of impact) the cast were fun and the story was different enough from the 1989 film but also with a familiar feel to that favourite film of mine. So don’t be put off if you see anyone moaning about ‘oh another remake’  Give the film a go yourself and make your own mind up. If there is one thing I didn’t like about Road House (2024) its that Amazon MGM didn’t theatrically show this film. Road House would have been such a fun time watching with an audience. But sadly Amazon MGM thought they knew better (which they don’t) and if you want to watch the film, you will have to watch it on your TV instead.

Its out Now on Amazon Prime!

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