Road House

I love the original Road House. Strip it of the 80's charm, the sex appeal, the fighting philosophy, the brutality; swap the charmingly oblivious overkill for self-awareness, swap the practical effects for repulsive digital ones and you have the new Road House. The fact that this one had huge ratings is a testament to the lack of masculine films for contemporary audiences. I agree. But I also want it to be good and entertaining. (05/26/2024)

Doug Liman off the chain. A decently executed summer testosterone romp that's funny and manages to mix humour, self-parody and action, with a backdrop of the sun-drenched Keys at its back. A worthy remake to the awful original, plus an ensemble cast that has resuscitated Jake Gyllenhaal's action career (all honours to his physical form), and discovered the acting, or rather comedic, potential of Conor McGregor. It's a shame about some of the appallingly handled digital shots and botched editing, but within the context of an action flush with no higher ambitions, relative satisfaction. (04/07/2024)

Yes, I was expecting a classic '90s B-movie where I could turn off all brain activity. However, the film still disappointed me a bit. Jake Gyllenhaal put in a lot of effort, but he didn’t quite fit the lead role for me. I probably prefer seeing him in more nuanced films. The story is incredibly cliché, really lacking any surprises (the romantic subplot was pushed much more forcefully compared to the original). And yes, Conor McGregor is amusing when he first appears, but his theatricality and lack of acting talent become tiresome after a while. At least the final fight was satisfying and met the highest standards. The original version with Swayze was honestly a bit more entertaining for me. I give Doug Liman's version 5/10. (05/12/2024)

I haven't seen the original film, so I'm not comparing, I'm purely evaluating, and I have to say that for how highly anticipated Road House was, it's very underwhelming. The story is more or less pretty straightforward, but that's fine with me, I like these simple movies with a charismatic main character, even more so if they add some violence, good craftsmanship and good action. But we don't get any of that here, so the overall result is just one big... er, disappointment? There are only two action sequences in all, and it's brutally obvious how computerized they are. If they've recruited Conor McGregor, you'd think he’d at least be allowed to give Jake Gyllenhaal a pretty hard and fair shake, but here the whole action is so horribly implausible that I can't believe it. Likewise, the whole bunch of bad guys come across as total losers, and when McGregor came on the scene I was grasping my head as to how he could so painfully and unnaturally overplay his role, because he may be a little red-headed leprechaun, but to forcefully push this behavior on his character like this is simply appalling. It's even worse that he bragged on social media that he was the highest-paid sports actor. Eh, what can I say? It’s not offensive or exciting, but I won't remember this movie in three days, which is actually a pretty bad result considering my initial expectations. A below average B-movie that even Gyllenhaal can't save. (03/21/2024)

Drenched in Florida sunshine, Road House is highly entertaining, testosterone-fuelled bullshit with the surprisingly cast Jake Gyllenhaal turning in another fine performance. Doug Liman helps Joel Silver update his eighties classic by dressing it up in the dynamic attire of music videos with intense fight scenes, but always with the detached humour of undemanding home VOD entertainment. The new Road House contains one psychologically effective scene (the dialogue in the bar teasing the main character’s trauma) and is more like an energetic punk comedy than a drama. Its most comical character is Gyllenhaal’s main adversary, the ultimate fighting machine Conor McGregor, who embodies bombastic, brainless macho cocksureness with mindless fury. An invitation to join the Fast & Furious crew is a certainty after this bold big-screen debut. (03/24/2024)